“She’ll pe ferry lanely all alane,” said Watty, after watching till the doctor, who was last, had disappeared. “What’ll she do till they come pack?”
He stood watching the fire, and thinking. Then at last:
“There’ll pe plenty left for Meester Stevey when she comes, and she tidn’t get enough pefore, so she’ll pegin to eat over again.”
Chapter Thirty Two.
Steve’s Adventure.
And all this time the object of so much solicitude was as eagerly on the watch for help as his friends were ready to supply it.
When the idea struck him that it would be a capital thing to do to run on forward to the foot of the coal cliff and start a fire ready for the time when the sledge was laboriously dragged up, he did not pause to consider whether it would be wise to separate himself from his friends, but darted off at full speed, and in due time reached the spot. He hurriedly built up a number of stones into a circle, and began to collect dry, twiggy stuff to start the blaze, wishing the while that he could see a fir wood with its ample supply of dead, turpentiny branches. But the twigs were strong and promised to burn well, so he proceeded next to collect the weather-worn fragments of coal, which had from time to time crumbled down from above, rent away by the frost. These were scattered here and there, many of them resembling stone; but he soon obtained enough to begin with, and bore them to his rough fireplace, over which he saw in imagination, as he worked, delicious steaks of deer frizzling.
He had pressed the bushy scrub down hard to make it burn without flaring away, glanced at the pieces of coal ready to hand, and now began to search his pocket for the little brass box of matches he carried, when as he knelt down there were footsteps behind him and a heavy breathing.