ade known to him our troubles.

"What! A can of oil to build yer fire with? Well, ye won't git it from
me. I know a man as got blowed up apourin' oil on a fire. Why, shucks,
boys, you don't need no oil ner paper nuther on that there island. Its
chuck-full of silver birch trees, and there ain't no better kindlin'
than birch bark."

Birch bark! Why, yes, why hadn't we thought of that? We had used it for
torches the summer before and knew how nicely it burned. So back we
skated to camp, and then, peeling off a large quantity of bark from the
birch trees around us, we soon had a rousing big fire in front of the
hut.

THE OUTDOOR FIREPLACE.

[Illustration: Fig. 197. An Outdoor Cooking Fire.]

But there were more things to be learned about open fires. In our summer
outing Jack had done most of his cooking on a kerosene stove, and he
soon found that it was a very different matter to cook over an
unsheltered fire. The heat was constantly carried hither and thither by
the gusts of wind, so that he could scarcely warm up his saucepans. We
had to content ourselves with cold victuals for the first meal, but
before the next meal time came around we had learned a little more about
fire building. Two large logs were placed about 10 inches apart, and the
space between them was filled in with pieces of bark and small twigs and
sticks. The back of the fireplace was closed with stones. One touch of a
match was enough to kindle the fire, and in a moment it blazed up
beautifully. The logs at the sides and the stones at the back prevented
the wind from scattering the flames in all directions, and a steady
draft poured through the open end of the fireplace and up through the
heart of the fire. The side logs were so close together that our cooking
utensils could be supported directly on them.

A STONE-PAVED FIREPLACE.

[Illustration: Fig. 198. A Stone-paved Fireplace.]

The following summer we continued our open fireplace experiments.
Instead of using logs we drove stakes into the ground, forming a small
circular stockade about 2 feet high and 3 feet in diameter. A paving of
small stones covered the floor of the fireplace, and a lining of stones
was laid against the wall. The stakes were driven in on a slant, as
illustrated in Fig. 198, so as to better support the stone lining. A
break in the stockade at one side let in the necessary draft. Two of the
stakes on opposite sides of the fire were made extra long, and were
crotched at