Miss Miller nodded her head affirmatively and knelt down on the rock where she intended building her fire. Hilda waited.
"Please hand me those two green logs, dear—just behind me," asked the Guide.
Hilda took up one log after the other and gave them to Miss Miller, who placed them carefully in position.
"Now, watch me, Hilda, and then you can see how to build a good fire-place."
The logs were placed so that they formed a "V" with the wide part about twelve inches apart. As the logs were about three feet long and six to eight inches thick, their position left a three-cornered hollow between.
"Now those two forked saplings."
Hilda found the required articles which Miss Miller had cut down with the hatchet on the tramp that afternoon. They were straight young trees with the first branches forming the forks. The leaves and slender twigs had been lopped off leaving a stick of about four feet in length and having two sharp forks at the top. These saplings Miss Miller now chopped off at the bottom until she had formed a sharp spike on each end. She carefully prodded with one until she found a crevice in the rock where the point could enter. Then she bore down with all her strength and drove the stick into the ground.
"Why, you've got it close to the point of the logs!" exclaimed Hilda wonderingly.
The Guide laughed and took up the second sapling. This she drove in to the soil at the opposite end of the logs. The forks were broadside to the length of the logs. Next, a stout but supple willow twig was selected from a small bundle, and laid across the top between the forks.
"Oh, my! Now I see what it is for!" cried Hilda, clapping her hands delightedly.