Page 230 - A Jacobite Exile

"I don't suppose they have gone very far, sir. But when the tree once gets
fairly alight, you may be sure they won't venture anywhere near it."

They had already been forced to move some little distance away from the

trunk, by the heat, and as the flames rose higher and higher, embracing in
the course of half an hour the whole of the trunk and upper branches, they
felt that it was perfectly safe to drop off into the snow beneath them.

Blazing brands soon began to fall. They stood a short distance away, so as

to be beyond the risk of accident, but, at Charlie's suggestion, they ran in
from time to time, gathered up the brands and laid them at the foot of the
trunk, and in a short time a second fire was kindled here.

The tree was now a pyramid of fire, lighting up the snow for a long

distance round. Outside this circle the wolves could be heard whining and
whimpering, occasionally uttering a long-drawn howl.

"They know that they are baulked of their prey," Stanislas said. "We shall
have some of the big branches falling soon, and shall be able to keep up a

roaring fire, that will last until daylight. I should think by that time the
wolves will be tired of it, and will make off; but if not, the captain will be
sure to send men out to search for us. He will guess we have been treed by

wolves, and we have only to get into another tree, and fire our pistols, to
bring them in this direction."

"But they may be attacked, too," Charlie remarked.

"There are ten of them, and they are sure to come armed with axes and
swords. They ought to be able to fight their way through a good-sized pack.

Besides, the wolves will be so cowed by this great fire, that I don't think
they will have the courage to meddle with so strong a party."

One by one the arms of the tree fell, burnt through at the point where they
touched the trunk. They would have been far too heavy to be dragged, but

three or four of them fell across the lower fire, and there lay blazing. Not
knowing which way the tree itself would fall, Charlie and his companion