Chapter 13

CAMP FUN AND FROLICS

=Active Sports and Games. Evenings in Camp. Around the Camp-Fire. Quiet Games, Songs, and Stories. Lighting Fires Without a Match=

Camp fun should have a place, and an important one, in your plans for the trail. For the time being the camp is your home and it should never be allowed to become dull for want of a little gayety and wholesome amusement. In a permanent camp there will be days when the entire party will be loafing and then is the time to start a frolic of some kind.

=Obstacle Races=

Competitive sports are always entertaining, and races, of one kind or another, are the most exciting. The Boy Scouts have a race in which the competitors drop first their staffs, then their hats, their neckties, leggins, and, finally struggling out of the blouse of their uniform, they drop that also. All this must be done while on the way and before they cross a given line. At the line they turn to go back over the course and, while running, take up their various belongings and put them on before they reach the home goal.

A race planned on these lines will be most amusing. A smooth course is not necessary, you probably won't have it at camp, and to get over the uneven ground, with the detentions of first dropping, then picking up the articles dropped, will add to the excitement of the sport. An entertaining variation of this will be to have those taking part in the race appear in impromptu costumes (worn over the ordinary dress) which they must remove piece by piece as they run and put the things all on again while returning over the course. Such hastily adjusted costumes cannot help but be funny.

=Medals=

The winner of the race should be given a medal as a prize. The medal can be made of any handy material. A tin circular disk cut from the top of a tin can will do. Drive a nail through this tin medal near the edge and pass a string through the hole so that it may be hung around the neck of the winner. Or instead of giving a medal, the victor may be crowned, like the ancient Greeks, with a wreath of leaves.

=Blindfold Obstacle Walk=

Another amusing camp sport is the blindfold obstacle walk. Place six or eight good-sized stones on the ground in a row, about two feet apart. The stones should be flat on top so that you can stand a tin cup filled with water on each stone. Let one member of the party make a trial trip over the cups, stepping between them as she passes down the row; then blindfold her, place two people as a guard, one on each side of her, to hold her hands and prevent a fall, and let them lead her to the end of the line of cups and tell her to go over it again.

The guard will steady her in case she stumbles but must in no way guide her course aright. The stepper will step high and be absurdly careful not to kick over one of the cups, for wet feet would probably be the result. Sometimes the stepper will leave the line of her own accord; sometimes her guard will purposely, and without her knowing it, lead her off the course and then her careful, high steps over nothing add to the fun of the onlookers.

Any number may take part in the sport, and in turn act as stepper. At the end a prize should be given by vote to the one who afforded the greatest amusement.

=Hunting the Quail=

This is something like the old game of hide-and-seek, with which all girls are familiar, and it will not be difficult to learn. The players are divided into "hunter" and "quails." The hunter is "It," and any counting-out rhyme will decide who is to take that part. When the hunter, with closed eyes, has counted her hundred, and the quails have scurried away to their hiding-places behind trees, bushes, or rocks, the hunt begins, and at the same time begins the cry of the quails: "Bob-White! Bob-White! Bob-White!" These calls, coming from every direction, are very bewildering, and the hunter must be alert to detect the direction of one particular sound and quick to see the flight of a quail and catch her before she can reach the home goal and find shelter there. The first quail caught becomes hunter in her turn, and the noisy, rollicking game continues as long as the players wish. Another romping game is called

=Trotting-Horse=

It is warranted to put in circulation even the most sluggish blood and to warm the coldest feet, and it is fine for the almost frosty weather we sometimes have in the mountains.

The players form a circle in marching order; that is, each girl faces the back of another, with a space between every two players. Trotting-horse, the "It" of the game, stands in the centre of the circle. When she gives the signal, the players forming the circle begin to run round and round, keeping the circle intact, while trotting-horse, always trotting, tries to slip between the ranks, which close up to prevent her escape. Trotting-horse must trot, not run. If she runs when making her escape she must go back into the ring and try once more to break away. When she succeeds fairly in getting through the ranks the player in front of whom she slips becomes "It" and takes the place of trotting-horse.

=Wood Tennis=

Wood tennis is of the woods, woodsy. Green pine-cones take the place of balls; hands, of rackets; and branches, of tennis-net. Lay out a regular tennis-court by scraping the lines in the earth, or outlining the boundaries with sticks or other convenient materials. Build a net of branches by sticking the ends in the ground, and collect a number of smooth, green cones for balls.

Wood tennis must, of necessity, differ somewhat from the regulation game. Since pine-cones will not bounce and there are no rackets for striking them, they must be tossed across the net, caught in the hands, and quickly tossed back. In other respects the rules of the established game may be used entire or simplified if desired.

=Around the Camp-Fire=

When darkness creeps through the woods, closing in closer and closer; when it blots out, one by one, the familiar landmarks and isolates the little camp in a sea of night, with the mutual wish for nearer companionship, we gather around the camp-fire, the one light in all the great darkness. We are grateful for its warmth, as the evenings are chill, and its cheery blaze and crackle bring a feeling of hominess and comfort welcome to every one. If there are men in the party they light their pipes and then begin the stories of past experiences on the trail, which are of the keenest interest to all campers. These stories, told while one gazes dreamily into the glowing coals of the fire or looks beyond the light into the mysterious blackness of the forest, have a charm that is wanting under different surroundings. The stories are not confined to the men, for in these days when girls and women are also on the trail, they too can relate things worth the telling.

=Songs=

Then come the songs. If there is some one in the party who can lead in singing, she can use a familiar air with a rousing chorus as a frame upon which to hang impromptu verses, made up of personalities and local hits. This is always fun and you are surprised how quickly doggerel rhymes suggest themselves when your turn comes to furnish a verse to the song.

The leader begins something like this, using, perhaps, the air and refrain of an old chantey or college song.

_Leader_ "I spotted a beaver, But he wasn't very nye."

_Chorus_ "Don't you rock so hard!"

_Second Soloist_ "His fur was all ragged And he had but one eye."

_Chorus_ "Don't you rock so hard. Oh! You rock and I rock, and Don't you rock so hard! Everybody rocks when I rock, and Don't you rock so hard."

_Third Soloist_ "You may laugh at the beaver, But he's always up to time."

_Chorus_ "Don't you rock so hard!"

_Fourth Soloist_ "Oh, do drop the beaver, And start a new rhyme."

_Chorus as before_

A song like this may go on indefinitely or until the rhyming powers of the party are exhausted.

=Bird-Call Match=

In a camp where the members are all familiar with the calls of the various wild birds, a bird-call match makes a charming game when the party is gathered around the camp-fire. The leader begins by whistling or singing the call of a wild bird; if it can be put into words so much the better. For instance, we will take the first few notes of the wood-thrush, which F. Schuyler Mathews has put into notes and words as follows:

Or the yellow-throated vireo, which he gives in this way:

If the leader is correct the next player gives the call of another bird. When a player gives a bird call which is known to be incorrect--that is, absolutely wrong--and some one else can supply the proper rendering, the first player is dropped from the game just as a person is dropped out of a spelling-match when she misspells a word. If there is no one who can give the call correctly, she retains her place. This is excellent training in woodcraft as well as a fascinating game. Your ears will be quickened to hear and to identify the bird calls by playing it; and storing bird notes in your memory for use in the next bird-call match will become a habit.

=Vary the Game=

You can vary this game by giving the calls of wild animals and the characteristic noises they make when frightened or angry.

Living even for a short time in the wild will develop unsuspected faculties and qualities in your make-up, and to perfect yourself in knowledge of the woods and its inhabitants will seem of the utmost importance. While learning the cries of birds and animals in sport, you will wish to retain them in earnest, and to enter the wilderness equipped with some knowledge of its languages, will open vistas to you that the more ignorant cannot penetrate.

=Lighting the Fire Without a Match=

A fire-lighting contest is the best of camp sports, for it requires practise and skill, and to excel in it is to acquire distinction among all outdoor people. There are girls in the Girl Pioneers Organization who are as proficient in lighting a fire without matches as any of the Boy Scouts who make much of the feat.

=Bow-and-Drill Method=

The bow-and-drill method is the most popular among girls and boys alike, and for this, as for all other ways of lighting a fire, you must have the proper appliances and will probably have to make them yourself.

Unlike the bow used for archery, the fire-bow is not to be bent by the bow-string but must have a permanent curve. Choose a piece of sapling about eighteen or twenty inches long which curves evenly; cut a notch around it at each end and at the notched places attach a string of rawhide of the kind used as shoe-strings in hunting-shoes. Tie the bow-string to the bow in the manner shown in Fig. 75, and allow it to hang loosely. It must _not_ be taut as for archery.

To the bow must be added the twirling-stick and fireboard (Fig. 76). Make these of spruce. The twirling-stick, spindle, or fire-drill should be a little over half an inch in diameter and sixteen inches long. Its sides may be rounded or bevelled in six or seven flat spaces like a lead-pencil, as shown in Fig. 76. Cut the top end to a blunt point and sharpen the bottom end as you would a lead-pencil, leaving the lead blunt. To hold the spindle you must have something to protect your hand. A piece of soapstone or a piece of very hard wood will answer. This is called the socket-block. In the wood or stone make a hole for a socket that will hold the top end of the spindle (Fig. 76).

The flat piece of spruce for your fireboard should be about two feet long and a little less than one inch thick. Cut a number of triangular notches in one edge of the board as in Fig. 76. Make the outer end of each notch about half an inch wide, and at the inner end make a small, cup-like hole large enough to hold the lower end of the twirling-stick. This is called the fire pit. The reason you are to have so many notches is because when one hole becomes too much enlarged by the drilling of the twirling-stick, or is bored all the way through, it is discarded and there must be others ready and prepared for immediate use.

=Tinder=

All is now ready for creating a spark, but that spark cannot live alone, it must have something it can ignite before there will be a flame. What is wanted is tinder, and tinder can be made of various materials, all of which must be _absolutely dry_. Here is one receipt for making tinder given by Daniel C. Beard: "The tinder is composed of baked and blackened cotton and linen rags. The best way to prepare these rags is to bake them until they are dry as dust, then place them on the hearth and touch a match to them. As soon as they burst into flame, smother the flame with a folded newspaper, then carefully put your punk (baked and charred rags) into a tin tobacco box or some other receptacle where it will keep dry and be ready for use."

This can be prepared at home. In the woods gather some of the dry inner bark of the cedar, the fine, stringy edges of white or yellow birch, and dry grasses, and dry them thoroughly at the camp-fire.

Mr. Beard also says: "You can prepare tinder from dry, inflammable woods or barks by grinding or pounding them between two flat stones. If you grind up some charcoal (taken from your camp-fire) very fine to mix with it, this will make it all the more inflammable. A good, safe method to get a flame from your fine tinder is to wrap up a small amount of it in the shredded bark of birch or cedar, so that you may hold it in your hand until it ignites from the embers produced by the saw."

With all your material at hand for starting a fire, make one turn around the spindle, with the bow-string, as in Fig. 76. Place the point of the lower end of the spindle in the small hole or "fire pit" at the inside end of a notch in the fireboard, fit the socket-block on the top end of the spindle (Fig. 76), and hold it in place with one hand, as shown in Fig. 77. Grasp one end of the bow with the other hand and saw it back and forth. This will whirl the spindle rapidly and cause the friction which makes the heat that produces the spark. When it begins to smoke, fan it with your hand and light your tinder from the sparks.

=Without the Bow=

Fig. 78 shows a method which is the same as Fig. 77, the only difference being that the bow is dispensed with, the hands alone being used for twirling the spindle. While simpler, it is very difficult to put sufficient force and speed into the work to produce fire, and it is a very tiresome process. Another way is shown in Fig. 79. It will take two girls to work in this fashion. The spindle is whirled by pulling the leather shoe-string back and forth. One girl holds the spindle and steadies the fireboard while the other does the twirling.

=The Plough=

It is more difficult to produce fire by the plough method than with the bow, but it can be done. The appliances are simple enough. All you need is a fireboard in which a groove or gutter has been cut, and a rubbing-stick to push up and down the gutter (Fig. 80).

Other woods than spruce are used with success for fire-drills and fireboards, but all must be dry. These are soft maple, cedar, balsam, tamarack, cottonwood root, and _white_, not pitch, pine.

=Bamboo Fire-Saw=

Part of an old bamboo fishing-rod will supply material for the fire-saw. Cut off a piece of bamboo about fifteen inches long, split it, and sharpen the edge of one piece to a knife-like thinness. Lay the other half down with the curved surface up and cut a slit in it through which the sharp edge of the saw can be passed. One or two girls can work this. When there are two, one girl holds the slit bamboo down firmly, while the other does the sawing (Fig. 81).

Put a little wad of tinder on a dry leaf and arrange it where the powdered sawdust will fall on it. When the powder becomes sufficiently hot there will be sparks and these, falling into the tinder, can be fanned into a flame by waving your hand over it. You will not see the spark but when smoke arises you will know that it is there. Fan gently, else you will blow the fire out, and keep on fanning until your flame is started.