It was so close to noon on December 21st 1943, in the Tanana River Valley of Alaska, not far from the Arctic Circle, when Crane on the Iceberg Inez was preparing to jump out of his plane. Wind cried and he was in the fall. Before Crane realized what was happening, he found himself1on a frozen stream. The plane that he had to2was burning, two miles away, which would be good3a rescue. However, the fire also meant the supplies－food, sleeping bags, signal flames, a gun－were lost. Still, he shouted out for any sign of life.4 ， there was nobody else. Crane tried to take a few steps, but the thick snow made his walking hard. And to make things5 ， a broken foot made it nearly impossible to reach the crash site before nightfall. He knew he mustn't lose his6and began to think of the things he could do.
It was minus60 degrees Fahrenheit. Crane knew he needed to start a fire and get it going,7he might not last the night. His fingers were dead, but he managed to light a match. The little flame wasn't enough to catch. He tried another three matches but they did nothing except burn his fingertips. At that moment, he remembered hearing from his father days ago. So with the help of the8 ， a fire rose up. The 9match worked. The journey back was unexpectedly difficult. One of his feet became so large that he could hardly put on his shoe. He walked at the best speed that he could manage although he was in great pain. Luckily, the 23-year-old10who had a strong will succeeded in keeping himself away from varied kinds of danger until help arrived 81 days later.
