As he looked at his watch, a thought struck him.
Presto; here was the brass wire. It would mean sacrificing the use of his watch for a time, but that could be easily dispensed with. He unscrewed the back of his watch, and ruthlessly took out the mainspring, which was a small coil of thin brass, not a wire exactly, but something that would answer the purpose just as well. His screw driver that he carried in the knapsack was too clumsy for such work as tinkering with a watch, so he used the point of his knife blade instead.
Getting the mainspring out was a matter of a few seconds only. Now remained only to think of some ingenious way to solder the brass coil to the needle. In his search through the knapsack he had thrown much of the contents on the ground near him, and in looking these over, in the search for inspiration, his eyes lighted on his fishing tackle.
There was the final thing needed. From the tackle book, where he kept his flies, he undid a little flap that covered a pocket, and drew out a split lead sinker. This was just what he needed for soldering the coil to the needle.
With his pliers he bent the end of the coil tightly about the center of the needle, and widening the split in the shot with his knife, slipped it over the needle where it was held to the brass coil.
Using the handle of his knife, he carefully pounded the sinker until it held of its own accord. Soldering was now a simple matter.
Garry lighted a small fire, and when the dry branches had burned to coals, thrust the screwdriver into the glowing bed.
“That spoils a good screwdriver,” thought Garry, “but at least it’s in a good cause.”
As any boy knows that has ever used tools, heating a screwdriver, if it is a good one, ruins the temper and makes it easy to break when struggling with a refractory screw.
As soon as the blade had gotten sufficiently heated, he applied it quickly to the lead sinker and caused it to melt and fuse around the needle. Two or three applications of the hot screwdriver were necessary before the job could be called complete, and then Garry sat back and surveyed his work with satisfaction.