ing ties of stout galvanized iron
wire, bent to the form shown in Fig. 44. The wooden ties were apt to
swell and split open when exposed to the weather, while the wire ties
could always be relied upon.

The walls of the tent were held down along the bottom by railway spikes
hooked through the tent loops and driven into the ground. Wooden pegs
with notches to catch the loops would have served as well, but Dutchy
happened to find a number of the spikes along the track and in his usual
convincing manner argued that they were far better than pegs because
their weight would hold the cloth down even if they were not firmly
embedded in the ground.

THE ANNEX.

We were surprised to find out how small the tent was after it was set
up. We could see at once that when we had put in all the stores and
provisions we would need, there would not be room enough for six boys
and a man to stretch themselves out comfortably in it. Bill had
evidently made a miscalculation, but he suggested that we remedy the
error by building an annex for our kitchen utensils and supplies.

[Illustration: Fig. 46. Cutting out the Annex.]

[Illustration: Fig. 47. The Annex Applied.]

This gave us a two-room tent, which we found to be quite an advantage.
Twelve more yards of drill were bought and cut into two strips, each 17
feet 2 inches long. The breadths were then sewed together, and the ends
turned up and hemmed to make a piece 17 feet long and 4 feet 9 inches
wide. Tape loops were then sewed on as before, and ropes were fastened
on at the top of the side walls, that is, 3 feet 6 inches from the ends
of the strips. We thought it would be better to have a slanting ridge on
the annex, so we cut out a wedge-shaped piece from the center of the two
strips, as shown by dotted lines _B B_ in Fig. 46. This
wedge-shaped piece measured 2 feet at the outer end of the annex, and
tapered down to a point at the inner end. The canvas was then sewed
together along these edges. Tie strings were sewed to the inner edge of
the annex and corresponding ones were attached to the main tent a little
ways back from the edge, so that the two could be tied together, with
the annex lapping well over on the roof and side walls. A notch was cut
out of the peak of the annex, so that it could be tied around the rear
post of the tent, and notches were cut at the top of the side walls to
permit passing the cloth around the wall ropes. Instead of supporting
the ridge of the annex