So he took out his knife, and selected three long slender stems of
bushes, and trimmed them up, and cut off the tops. Then he made a little
split in the top end, and slipped in a piece of birch bark. Then he
handed them to the children, one to each, and said, "There are your
torches; now you can light your fires without burning your fingers."

So they took their torches, and held the ends over the flame of the
piece of birch bark, which, however, had by this time nearly burned out.
Lucy's took fire, but Rollo's and James's did not, at first; and as they
pressed their torches down more and more to make them light, they only
smothered what little flame was left, and put it out.

"O dear me!" said Rollo.

Lucy had gone a little way towards a pile; but when she saw what was the
matter, she came back and said, "Here;--light it by mine." So the boys
held their torches over hers until they were all three in a bright
blaze. They then carried them along, waving them in the air, and
lighting pile after pile, until the whole forest seemed to be in a
flame.

The children stood still a few moments, gazing on the fires, and on the
extraordinary effect which the light produced upon the objects around.
It was a singular scene. Flashing and crackling flames rose high from
the heaps which were on fire, and shed a strong but unsteady light on
the trees, the ground, and the banks of the brook, and penetrated deep
into the forest on every side. Rollo called upon James and Lucy to look
at his father and mother, who were across the brook; they stood there
under the trees, almost invisible before, but now the bright light shone