"Of course I can!" answered Sandy. "What"s the good of going through all those Boy Scout examinations, if a fellow can"t build a fire with one match? Of course I can build a fire with one match!"
"Can you build a fire with one match up in a tree?" asked Thede, with a suspicion of mirth in his voice.
"Of course I can!" answered Sandy.
"Up in a tree in the darkness, on a windy night?" asked Thede.
"If this thing is going to your head, you"d better drop down and make a run for the camp!" advised Sandy.
"Honest, now," asked Thede, "can you make a fire with one match in a green tree, in a high wind, on a dark night?"
"Cut it out!" roared Sandy.
"Because if you can," Thede explained, "I think I can show you a way out of this mess!"
"Well, go on and show it, then!"
"All you"ve got to do," Thede went on, "is to build a fire and drop the burning brands down on top of the bears. That will bring them out into the light for a second or two, and perhaps we can drop them with our automatics."
The boys heard the Indian moving softly about in the branches of the tree he had selected as a refuge, but paid little attention to what he was doing. Afterwards, they discovered that he had dropped his rifle at the foot of the tree, and was trying to secure it.
"Why did you say build a fire with one match?" asked Sandy. "I always carry a lot of matches," the boy added, feeling in his pocket.
"Find any?" asked Thede.
"Not a match!"
"I knew you wouldn"t!" Thede said.
"How"d you happen to know so much?" grunted Sandy.
"Because," Thede replied, "I saw you feeling in your pocket for a match and bring your fingers out empty while at the cabin. Then you went to a match box and laid a great heap of "em on the table.
I thought of it while we stood there, but it never occurred to me to tell you to stow them away."
"I remember now!" Sandy said regretfully.
"Well," Thede responded cheerfully, "I"ve got just one match. I wonder if you can light a fire with that!"
"You just wait a minute and I"ll tell you!" replied Sandy.
Thede heard him moving about over the limbs of the tree, his every motion being punctuated by growls from below. Then came an exclamation of satisfaction from the darkness, and Thede heard the boy declaring that it was a dead tree they were in, and that there was plenty of dry wood.
"All right, start your fire, then," suggested Thede, "and we"ll see if we can"t burn the backs off some of those bears!"
"Perhaps we can break off enough dry limbs to make a rousing old fire that will keep till morning," Sandy said in a moment. "If this old tree is really dead to the heart, it"ll make quite a blaze."
Sandy gathered a great handful of twigs not more than a couple of inches in length and placed them in a sheltered position in the lee of the tree. Then he added dry boughs of larger size and made ready to use the precious match.
"Now you know what"ll happen if that match goes out!" said Thede.
"This match," said Sandy confidently, "is not the kind of a match that goes out. I"d be a healthy old Boy Scout if I couldn"t build a fire in the top of a tree with one match!"
The boy waited until there came a brief lull in the wind, then with the match protected as much as possible by his hat he struck it.
The flame spluttered for an instant, died down, crawled around to the windward side of the stick, crawled back again, and then flared up gloriously. At first the dry twigs refused to ignite, but presently one caught the blaze, then another, and directly Sandy was obliged to draw his face away from the growing heat.
"There!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "Didn"t I tell you I could do it?"
"You said you could," answered Thede, "but I didn"t believe it!"
"Look here," Tommy said in a minute, sheltering his face from the smoke. "First thing we know, we"ll have this whole blooming tree on fire."
"If it gets good and hot, we can fry fish after the bears go away,"
suggested Thede. "I"m hungry! By the way," he added with a grin, "where are those fish?"
"Do you think I brought "em up in the tree?" demanded Sandy.
"You never left "em down there?" asked Thede.
"Didn"t I?" exclaimed Sandy. "What did you do with the ones you were carrying?"
"Why," replied Thede, "I guess I left "em in the thicket where we stood when we made a hop-skip-and-jump for the tree."
"We certainly are a bright mess!" cried Sandy.
"Say," Thede said in a moment, "I"ll just bet that"s what kept the bears so still while we"ve been up here building the fire. They"ve been eating our fish! That"s why we couldn"t get sight of them!"
"Can you see the bears now?" asked Sandy. "I"m sure I can"t!"
"They"re still back in there eating our trout!" wailed Thede.
"Unless you want a leg burned off," advised Sandy, "you"d better work around on another limb!"
"Aw, this limb is all right!" argued Thede.
The light from the fire now illuminated quite a little circle around the tree, and the boys saw 0je sliding cautiously down the trunk of the tree where he had taken refuge.
"He"s after his gun!" declared Sandy. "Just watch out and you"ll see him get one of those bears!"
Oje certainly was after his rifle, for he slid down cautiously, keeping the bole of the tree between himself and the bears.
Much to the surprise of the lads, the Indian did not again climb into the shelter of the branches. Instead, he stood peering around the trunk of the tree as if waiting for the wild animals to make their appearance. The flame blazed higher and higher and the boys began to feel uncomfortable.
"I"ll bet there ain"t any bears here!" Sandy exclaimed after a moment"s silence. "I guess we run away from a rabbit!"
"I guess we didn"t!" insisted Thede.
The boy"s opinion was verified a moment later by the appearance of three shambling figures in the lighted zone. The bear is noted for his curiosity, and the boys realized, too, that the feast of fish must have been devoured.