L2-2-2

he worked slowly and carefully. At sixty degrees below zero, a man with wet feet must

not fail in his first attempt to build a fire. While he was walking, his blood had kept

all parts of his body warm. Now that he had stopped, cold was forcing his blood to withdraw

deeper into his body. His wet feet had frozen. He could not feel his fingers. His nose was

frozen, too. The skin all over his body felt cold. Now, however, his fire was beginning to

burn more strongly. He was safe. He sat under the tree and thought of the old men in Fairbanks.

The old men had told him that no man should travel alone in the Yukon when the temperature is 60

degrees below zero. Yet here he was. He had had an accident. He was alone. And he had saved

himself. He had built a fire. Those old men were weak, he thought. A real man could travel alone.

If a man stayed calm, he would be all right. The man's boots were covered with ice. The strings

on his boots were as hard as steel. He would have to cut them with his knife. He leaned back

the mass of snow dropped down. His movement had shaken the young tree only a tiny bit. But it was

enough to cause the branches of the tree to drop their heavy load. The man was shocked. He sat and

looked at the place where the fire had been. The old man had been right, he thought. If he had

another man with him, he would not be in any danger now. The other man could build the fire.

Well, it was up to him to build the fire again. This time, he must not fail. The man collected more

wood. He reached into his pocket for the matches. But his fingers were frozen. He could not hold

them. He began to hit his hands with all his force against his legs. After a while, feeling

came back to his fingers. The man reached again into his pocket for the matches. But the tremendous

cold quickly drove the life out of his fingers. All the matches fell onto the snow. He tried to

pick one up, but failed. The man pulled on his glove and again beat his hand against his leg.

Then he took the gloves off both hands and picked up all the matches. He gathered them together,

holding them with both hands. He scratched the matches along his leg. They immediately caught

fire. He held the blazing matches to a piece of wood. After a while, he became aware that he could

smell his hands burning. Then he began to feel the pain. He opened his hands and the blazing

matches fell onto the snow. The flame went out in a puff of grey smoke.