side with the axe to
furnish a better resting place for the pots and pans. If the logs roll
or seem insecure, make a shallow trench to hold them or wedge them
with flat stones. The surest way to hold them in place is to drive
stakes at each end. Build your fire between the logs and build up a
cob house of firewood. Split wood will burn much more quickly than
round sticks. As the blazing embers fall between the logs, keep adding
more wood. Do not get the fire outside of the logs. The object is to
get a bed of glowing coals between them. When you are ready to begin
cooking, take out the smoky, burning pieces and leave a bed of red-hot
coals. If you have no axe and can find no logs, a somewhat similar
fireplace can be built up of flat stones, but be sure that your stone
fireplace will not topple over just at the critical time.

If you only have your jack-knife, the best fire is a "Gypsy Rig". Cut
two crotched sticks, drive them into the ground and lay a crosspiece
on them just as you would begin to build the leanto described in the
preceding chapter, but of course not so high above the ground. The
kettles and pots can be hung from the crossbar by means of pot hooks,
which are pieces of wood or wire shaped like a letter "S." Even
straight sticks will do with two nails driven into them. These should
be of different lengths to adjust the pots at various heights above
the fire, depending on whether you wish to boil something furiously or
merely to let it simmer. Do not suspend the kettles by running the bar
through them. This is very amateurish. With a gypsy fire, the frying
pan, coffee pot and gridiron will have to be set right on the bed of
coals.

An arrangement for camp fires that is better and less work than the
logs is obtained by using fire irons, which are two flat pieces of
iron a yard or so long resting on stones and with the fire built
underneath.

The whole object of either logs or irons is to furnish a secure
resting place for cooking utensils above the fire.

There are several kinds of ovens used for baking bread and roasting
meat in outdoor life. The simplest way is to prop a frying pan up in
front of the fire. This is not the best way but you will have to do it
if you are travelling light. A reflector, when made of sheet iron or
aluminum is the best camp oven. Tin is not so satisfactory because it
will not reflect the heat equally. Both the top and bottom of the
reflector oven are on a slope and midway bet