IMPROVISED TENT. I93 
be severe, and that their resources for meeting it 
were very meagre, Mrs. Maxwell was perfectly 
aware, but the fact did not disconcert her. 
How the problem of shelter was to be solved, 
she had at first no idea beyond the one that it 
was to be done. I speak of Mrs. Maxwell as- 
suming the question ; Miss E 5 s previous 
experience in out-door life had been very limited, 
and in making an inventory of his many virtues, 
Mr. B protested that ingenuity was not one 
of them, his supply being as small as that in the 
possession of any average mortal. 
The first step taken was the selecting of two 
trees, growing near enough together so that a 
corner of each end of the fly could be securely 
fastened to them about five feet from the ground. 
The lower side was pinned firmly to the earth, 
and with hatchet and sticks a little trench was 
dug along its edge to conduct the water away. 
This was for protection on the windward side. 
Mrs. Maxwell’s blanket-shawl, opened to its full 
length and pinned to the upper edge of the fly, 
shut in the open side. Saddle-blankets and corn- 
sacks, which had held grain for their horses, 
were called upon to enclose the ends. A paper 
of pins was used to fasten the various parts 
together ; hair-pins, taken from heads feminine, 
doing duty where the other kind was too small. 
The house being completed, it was quickly 
13 
