With one hand he now drew the bow swiftly to and fro, causing the pencil to revolve with great rapidity, and with the other he held a small quantity of tinder close to its point of contact with the soft pine. The rapid movement of the pencil produced a few grains of fine sawdust, and this shortly began to smoke with the heat of friction. In less than one minute the sawdust and tinder were in a glow that a breath fanned into a flame, and there was no longer any doubt about a fire.[1]
[1] This is the Eskimo method; and I have seen a Norton Sound Eskimo woman obtain fire by this simple means inside of ten seconds.—K. M.
SERGE’S METHOD OF LIGHTING A FIRE
That evening, as our friends sat contentedly in front of a cheerful blaze, after a more satisfactory meal than they had enjoyed for many a day, Jalap Coombs remarked that he only wanted one more thing to make him perfectly happy.
“Same here,” said Phil. “What’s your want?”
“A pipeful of tobacco,” replied the sailor, whose whole smoking outfit had been lost with his sledge.
“All I want,” laughed Phil, “is to know how and when we are to get out of this trap, and continue our journey to Sitka. I hate the thought of spending a couple of months here, even if there are plenty of goats.”
“I can’t think of anything else we can do,” said Serge, thoughtfully.