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L'étincelle était toute petite, faute de bois pour le feu.

L'étincelle était toute petite, faute de bois pour le feu.
The spark was very small, for lack of wood for the fire.
From Lesson 329:Prepositions of lack (faute de)·French

Questions & Answers about L'étincelle était toute petite, faute de bois pour le feu.

Why is there no article before bois? Shouldn't it be faute du bois?
The expression faute de (for lack of) is followed directly by the noun without a definite article when referring to a general concept or uncountable item. Just like avoir besoin de or manquer de, you drop the article: faute de bois.
If toute is acting as an adverb here meaning 'very', why does it agree with the feminine noun?
You have spotted a classic French exception! Generally, the adverb tout never changes. However, when it comes right before a feminine adjective that starts with a consonant (like petite), it is forced to agree in gender and number. This is why it becomes toute petite rather than tout petite.
The lesson says faute de can be used with an infinitive. How would that work here?
To use a verb instead of a noun, simply place the infinitive immediately after faute de. For instance, if you wanted to say 'for lack of finding wood', you would say faute de trouver du bois.
Could I just use à cause de instead of faute de here?
Not on its own, because à cause de only means 'because of' and lacks the 'lack of' meaning! To keep the exact same meaning, you would have to say à cause du manque de bois (because of the lack of wood). Faute de bois is much more concise.

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