strong, forked-top stakes driven down into the ground directly opposite
each other, one on each side of the circle. Rest the end of a stout
green stick in the forked tops of the stakes, and use it to hang pots
and pails from when cooking. A fire can also be safeguarded with a
circle of stones placed close together. Another method of outdoor
cooking may be seen on page 81, where leaning stakes are used from which
to hang cooking utensils over the fire.

One more caution about possibilities of causing forest fire. Terrible
wide-spread fires have resulted from what was supposed to be an
extinguished outdoor fire. Do not trust it, but when you are sure the
camp-fire is out, pour on more water over the fire and all around the
unburned edge of surrounding ground; then throw on fresh earth until the
fire space is covered. Be always on the safe side. Tack up on a tree
in the camp, where all must see it, a copy of the state laws regarding
forest fires, as shown in photograph frontispiece.

[Illustration: Bringing wood for the fire.]

On forest lands much of the ground is deep with tangled rootlets and
fibres mixed in with the mould, and a fire may be smouldering down
underneath, where you cannot see it. _Have a care._

The permanent-camp fireplace, built to do service for several seasons,
is usually of big, heavy, _green_ logs, stones, and earth. The logs,
about three and one-half feet long, are built log-cabin fashion, some
twenty-eight inches high, with all crevices filled in and firmly padded
with earth and stones. Big stones are anchored securely along the top of
the earth-covered log sides and back of the fireplace, raising these
higher than the front. The space inside the walled fireplace is very