Stránka:book 1913.djvu/294

272 The Book of Woodcraft We all know that a camp without a campfire would be no camp at all; its chief est charm would be absent. Your first care, then, is to provide for a small fire and pre- vent its spreading. In the autumn this may mean very elaborate clearing, or burning, or wetting of a space around the fire. In the winter it means nothing. Cracked Jimmy, in "Two Little Savages," gives very practical directions for lighting a fire anywhere in the timbered northern part of America, thus : "First a curl of burch bark as dry as it can be, Then some twigs of soft wood, dead, but on the tree, Last of all some pine-knots to make the kittle foam. And there's a fire to make you think you're settin' right at home." If you have no birch bark, it is a good plan to shave a dry soft-wood stick, leaving all the shavings sticking on the end in a fuzz, like a Hopi prayer stick. Several of these make a sure fire kindler. Fine splinters may be made quickly by hammering a small stick with the back of the axe. In the case of a small party and hasty camp, you need nothing but a pot hanger of green wood for a complete kitchen, and many hundreds of times, on prairie and in forest, I found this sufficient.