"I never knew how to make my bed so it wouldn't slip out from under me in the night," laughed Tad. "In the morning I usually find myself lying on the bare ground, no matter how carefully I have made my bed."
"So I have observed," smiled the guide. "We will have Charlie do this work hereafter, but it might be a good idea for you boys to help in order to get your hands in. There will be many times when you will have to do it for yourselves."
"We have had to do so many times already," muttered Walter.
"To continue with our subject, next fell a thriving balsam or hemlock—spruce, pine or cedar will do if you can get nothing else—and strip off the fans."
The boys drew closer, for they were learning something that was of no little interest to them.
"Place a course of boughs a foot long against the head-log, butts down and to the front, then shingle another layer in front of these and continue in that way down to the foot of the bed, leaving only the tips of the boughs showing."
"That is something like my way of making the browse-bed," said Tad.
"Yes, except that yours is a heap of greens, not a bed," answered the guide.
Tad agreed to this with a nod.
"New greens should be put in every day to freshen your bed and keep it soft."