near as long as your camp-fire is burning. The next two watchers will be
on duty until 2 A. M., and will doubtless hear, if not see, some of the
wild life of the forest. The third couple's turn lasts until 4 A. M.;
then the last two will be awakened in time to see the sun rise, listen
to the twittering and singing of the wild birds, and possibly catch a
glimpse of wild deer. With 6 A. M. comes broad daylight, and the
ever-to-be-remembered night in the open is past and gone.

These side trips bring you into closer touch with nature, quicken your
love for, and a desire to know more of, the wild; and, much to the
delight of the campers keeping guard through the hours of the night,
there comes a keen sense of the unusual, of novel experience, of
strangeness and adventure.

[Illustration: Soft wood.]


=Exercise=

While wholesome camping calls for sufficient physical exercise to cause
a girl to be blissfully tired at night, and yet awaken refreshed and
full of energy the next morning with a good appetite for breakfast,
until you become accustomed to the outdoor life, it is best to curb your
ambition to outdo the other girls in strength and endurance. It is best
not to overtax yourself by travelling too far on a long trail at one
stretch, or by lifting too heavy a log, stone, or other weight.


=The Camp-Fire=

The outdoor fire in camp bespeaks cheer, comfort, and possibilities for
a hot dinner, all of which the camper appreciates.


=How to Build a Fire=

Choose an open space, if possible, for your fire. Beware of having it
under tree branches, too near a tent, or in any other place that might
prove dangerous. Start your fire with the tinder nearest at hand, dry
leaves, ferns, twigs, cones, birch bark, or pine-knot slivers. As the
tinder begins to burn, add kindling-wood of larger size, always
remembering that the air must circulate under and upward through the
kindling; no fire can live without air any more than you can live
without breathing. Smother a person and he will die, smother a fire and
it will die.

[Illustration: Hard wood.]

Soft woods are best to use after lighting the tinder; they ignite easily
and burn quickly, such as pine, spruce, alder, birch, soft maple,
balsam-fir, and others. When the kindling is blazing put on still
heavier wood, until you have a good, steady fire. Hard wood is better
than soft when the fire is well going; it burns longer and can usually
be depended upon for a reliable fire, not sending out sparks or
sputtering, as do many of the soft woods, but burning well and giving a
fine bed of hot coals. The tree belonging exclusively to America, and
which is the best of the hardwoods, comes first on the hardwood list.
This is _hickory_. Pecan, chestnut-oak, black birch, basket-oaks, white
birch, maple, dogwood, beech, red and yellow birch, ash, and apple wood
when obtainable are excellent.


=Cook-Fire=

Make the cook-fire _small_ and _hot_; then you can work over it in
comfort and not scorch both hands and face when trying to get near
enough to cook, as would be the case if the fire were large.

When in a hurry use dry bark as wood for the cook-fire. Hemlock, pine,
hickory, and other bark make a hot fire in a short time, and water will
boil quickly over a bark fire.


=Log-Cabin Fire=

Start this fire with two good-sized short sticks or logs. Place them
about one foot apart parallel to each other. At each end across these
lay two smaller sticks, and in the hollow square formed by the four
sticks, put the tinder of cones, birch bark, or dry leaves.

Across the two upper sticks and over the tinder, make a grate by laying
slender kindling sticks across from and resting on top of the two upper
large sticks. Over the grate, at right angles to the sticks forming it,
place more sticks of larger size. Continue in this way, building the
log-cabin fire until the structure is one foot or so high, each layer
being placed at right angles to the one beneath it. The fire must be
lighted from beneath in the pile of tinder. I learned this method when
on the Pacific slope. The fire burns quickly, and the log-cabin plan is
a good one to follow when heating the bean hole, as the fire can be
built over the hole, and in burning the red-hot coals will fall down
into it, or the fire can be built directly in the hole; both ways are
used by campers.


=Fire in the Rain=

To build a fire in the rain with no dry wood in sight seems a difficult
problem, but keep cheerful, hum your favorite tune, and look for a
pine-knot or birch bark and an old dead stump or log. In the centre of
the dead wood you will find dry wood; dig it out and, after starting the