SCOUTING FOR GIRLS 
329 
generally damp or rotten. Choose hard wood, if there 
is any, for it lasts well. 
“Select three of your best sticks for kindling. Shave 
each of them almost through, for half its length, leav- 
ing lower end of shavings attached to the stick, one 
under the other. Stand these in a tripod, under the 
hanging pot, with their curls down. Around them 
build a small conical wigwam of the other sticks, stand- 
ing each on end and slanting to a common center. The 
whole affair is no bigger than your hat. Leave free 
air spaces between the sticks. Fire requires air, and 
plenty of it, and it burns best when it has something 
to climb up on; hence the wigwam construction. Now 
touch off the shaved sticks, and in a moment you will 
have a small blast furnace under the pot. This will 
get up steam in a hurry. Feed it with small sticks as 
needed. 
“Meantime get two bed-sticks, four or five inches 
thick, or a pair of flat rocks, to support the frying pan. 
The firewood will all drop to embers soon after the 
pot boils. Toss out the smoking butts, leaving only 
clear, glowing coals. Put your bed-sticks on either side, 
parallel and level. Set the pan on them, and fry away. 
So, in twenty minutes from the time you drove your 
stake, the meal will be cooked. 
“ Dinner Fire — First get in plenty of wood and kin- 
dling. If you can find two large flat rocks, or several 
small ones of even height use them as andirons ; other- 
wise lay down two short cuts off a five or six inch log, 
facing you and about three feet apart. On these rocks 
or billets lay two four foot logs parallel, and several 
inches apart, as rests for your utensils. Arrange the 
kindling between and under them, with small sticks laid 
across the top of the logs, a couple of long ones length- 
wise, then more short ones across, another pair length- 
