h fish in wayside
brooks that had never seen a fish and not realizing how important it
is to make haste as well as hay while the sun shines.

[Illustration: An Indian tepee]

We quickly pitched the tent, not as it should have been pitched, but
in a heap over the rest of our goods to keep out as much water as
possible and then ran for a nearby barn where we spent a cold hungry
night, wetter but wiser. The next day, out came the sun and dried our
things, but if the rain had continued we certainly should have been
obliged to go home or at least to a farmhouse to stay until the
weather cleared. We soon forgot our unpleasant experience but we have
not forgotten the lesson it taught--and that is not to waste time
along the road when there is work to be done at the journey's end.

Next to a good tent, the most important thing for the camper is a good
bed. It is even more important than good food because if we sleep
well, hunger will furnish the sauce for our grub, but if we spend the
night trying to dodge some root or rock that is boring into our back
and that we hardly felt when we turned in but which grew to an
enormous size in our imagination before morning, we will be half sick
and soon get enough of being an Indian. A canvas cot makes the best
camp bed if it can be taken along conveniently. There is one important
thing to look out for in sleeping on a cot. In my first experience of
the kind, I nearly froze. I kept piling things on me until all my
clothing, and even the camp towels and table-cloth were pressed into
service and was thinking about pulling some dry grass to pile on the
rest of the stuff. Still I shivered until I discovered that the cold
was coming up from underneath because there was nothing to keep it out
but the single thickness of canvas. When I put one of my blankets
under me, I was as warm as toast.

Very often it is impossible to carry cots on a trip, and that is
where a knowledge of woodcraft comes in. The softest, sweetest,
downiest bed in the world can be made with no other materials but
those which grow in the forest--if we know how. At least the tired
camper will think it is soft and will sleep on it like a top and wake
up refreshed in the morning. Perhaps if we had our choice we would
prefer our own bed at home, but in the woods we do not have this
choice. Most people call this a bed of "pine boughs."

[Illustration: How the bough bed is made]

Why I do not know as it never should be made o