Chapter 29

TENT MAKING.

We had a farewell meeting of the society the evening before Bill and I had to return to boarding-school. At this meeting plans were made for the Easter vacation. We also considered the matter of getting parental permission for our summer outing. So far we had been afraid to breathe a word of our plans outside of the society, since Fred had said something about it in the presence of Father and had been peremptorily ordered to banish all such hair-brained, Wild West notions from his head. We realized from that incident that the consent of our parents would not be so very easily obtained. But Bill came forward with a promising suggestion. He would write to his Uncle Ed and see if he couldn't be persuaded to join the expedition. At first we demurred. We didn't want a "governor" around all the time. But Bill assured us that his uncle was "no ordinary man"; that he would not interfere with our plans, but would enter right into them and give us many valuable pointers. Though not by any means convinced, we told him to go ahead and invite his uncle, as that seemed about the only means of winning over our fathers and mothers. The society was then adjourned until our Easter vacation began, each member promising to earn and save as much money as he could in the meantime to buy the materials for a tent and provisions for the summer outing.

Word From Uncle Ed.

Bill's letter to Uncle Ed was answered as quickly as the mail could travel to Brazil and back. Uncle Ed heartily approved of our plans, and said that he would be delighted to join the expedition. He could not be on hand before the 1st of July, but that would give us plenty of time to make all necessary preparations. He told us not to worry about gaining the consent of our parents. He would write to them and see them all personally, if necessary to win their approval.

THE CANVAS TENT.

When at last spring arrived and we returned to Lamington on our Easter vacation, quite a sum of money had been collected, nearly $15.00, if I remember rightly; at any rate plenty to buy the materials for a good-sized tent and leave a large surplus for provisions, etc. Bill figured out on paper just how much canvas we would need for a tent 7 feet wide by 9-1/2 feet long, which he estimated would be about large enough to hold us. It took 34 yards, 30 inches wide. Then we visited the village store to make our purchase. Canvas we found a little too expensive for us, but a material called drill seemed about right. It cost ten cents a yard, but since we wanted such a quantity of it the price was reduced to a total of $3.00. We repaired to the attic to lay out the material.

First we cut out four lengths of 5 yards and 26 inches each. The strips were basted together, lapping the edges 1 inch and making a piece 17 feet 2 inches long by 9 feet 9 inches wide. Mother sewed the breadths together on the machine, using a double seam, as in sail making; that is, two parallel rows of stitching were sewed in, one along each overlapping edge, as shown in Fig. 38. A 1-inch hem was then turned and sewed at the ends of the goods, so that the piece measured exactly 17 feet long. It served for the roof and side walls of the tent. Our next operation was to cut three strips 11 feet long, and sew them together with a double seam as before. This piece was now slit along the center line _m_, Fig. 39, making two lengths 3 feet 8 inches wide. The strips were then cut along the diagonal lines _a a_, forming the end walls or doors, so to speak, of the tent. In sewing on the door flaps we started first at the bottom of the side _c_, sewing it to the side edge of the main piece, as shown in Fig. 40, and running the seam up for a distance of exactly 3 feet 6 inches. After all the door strips had been sewed along their _c_ edges the sewing was continued up the diagonal or _a_ edges. In cutting out the door pieces we had allowed 1 inch on each side for hems and seams, so that the door pieces met without lapping at the exact center of the main or body piece, that is, at the peak of the tent.

Our next step was to fasten the necessary ropes and loops. Ten 8-foot lengths of light rope were procured. These were fastened at the top of the side walls, that is, 3 feet 6 inches from the ends of the main or body piece, one at each corner and one on each seam. The cloth was strengthened at these points with patches sewed on the inside. At the bottom of the side walls we sewed on loops of heavy tape. These were spaced about 15 inches apart. Along the _b_ edges of the door pieces tie strings of tape were fastened. A rope 15 feet long was attached to the peak at the front and at the rear of the tent. The front and rear posts of the tent were made from scantlings measuring 2 by 4 inches, which were procured from Mr. Schreiner's lumber yard. They were planed smooth and sawed off to a length of 7 feet 6 inches. A slot was cut in the end of each stick to a depth of 6 inches and measuring slightly over an inch in width. For the ridge pole a strip 1 inch thick, 2-1/2 inches wide and 10 feet long was secured. This was fitted into the slotted ends of these posts, where it was fastened by wooden pegs slipped into holes drilled through the ends of the posts and the ridge pole. A number of these peg holes were provided, so that if the canvas stretched the ridge pole could be raised or lowered to prevent the walls from dragging on the ground. We set up the tent in our back yard to see if it was properly constructed. Twelve stakes were required, ten for the sides and one for the ridge stays at the front and rear. The side stakes were driven into the ground at a distance of about 8 feet from the center of the tent. First we tied the guy ropes to the stakes, but later we found it much easier to secure them with tie blocks.

TIE BLOCKS.

These were made of wood 1/2 inch thick, 1 inch wide and each measured 3 inches long. A hole was drilled into the block at each end and through these holes the rope was threaded. A knot in the rope then held the end from slipping out. The loop between the two holes, or the bight, as sailors would call it, was now slipped over the stake, and the rope hauled tight by drawing up the tie block, as shown in Fig. 43. A still later improvement consisted in making 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.

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 on a ridge pole, we used the rear guy line of the tent, propping it up with a scantling about 5-1/2 feet long.