“There must be more wood where I found this branch,” Great Bear said. “It must have blown from a tree at the top of the cliff. When we get a fire started, we may be able to find more.”
They had a hard time starting a fire. The branch Great Bear had found seemed to be soaked almost entirely through. Great Bear took his knife and peeled away the outer part of the limb. When he had whittled to a part of the limb that was almost dry, he had Little Bear hold his robe to shield the shavings from the rain. Grandfather whittled off a good-sized pile of shavings and then cut a few thicker pieces of wood.
When he thought he had enough shavings to start a fire, Great Bear laid aside his knife and picked up flint and steel. He struck them together. A spark fell on the pile of shavings and immediately went out. Great Bear moved the shavings about, trying to get drier ones to the top of the pile. He struck another spark, but again it died without lighting the shavings.
“These shavings aren’t dry enough,” Great Bear declared. “I’ll have to get drier shavings.”
He took up his knife and cut into the branch in another place. Little Bear’s arms were aching from holding the heavy buffalo robe. Great Bear whittled carefully until he had another pile of shavings ready. He struck flint to steel. A spark dropped on the shavings and went out. He struck again. Another spark fell, smouldered a moment, and blazed up in a tiny flame. Great Bear slowly added shavings and, as the flame leaped up, put thicker pieces on the fire.
“You won’t need to hold the robe over it now,” he told Little Bear.
Thankfully Little Bear laid the buffalo robe on the ground. He would have liked to sit down and rest, but they needed more fuel. As Great Bear slowly built up the fire, Little Bear started out to find more wood. The tiny fire gave little light. Yet when Little Bear was some distance from the fire and turned to face it, he could see better. He found two more small limbs.
As soon as Great Bear had the fire burning well enough so that he dared leave it, both of them went back and searched. In the darkness they had to move carefully for fear they would slip over the edge of the cliff. Although they searched carefully, they found only two small handfuls of wood. By the time they returned to the fire, the rain had stopped.
“We’ll dry our robes first,” Great Bear decided.
He set up some of the larger sticks to make a framework near the fire. They laid the robes over the framework. When the robes were dry, they removed their clothes, wrapped themselves in the robes, and hung their clothes on the framework to dry.