Fantasy Football Challenge - Football Fanatics Library

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Fantasy Football Challenge presents
Young Knights of the Empire

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about 3 ft. high in front, and 3 ft. wide and 6 ft. long. * * * * * FRAMEWORK. You build your fire about 4 ft. in front of this, and lie in it alongside your fire. If the "shack" is for more than one man, you build it 5 ft. or 6 ft. high in front, and 5 ft. deep, so that several fellows can lie alongside each other, feet to the fire. When you start to thatch your framework, begin at the bottom and lay your roofing material on in layers, one above the other in the way that slates are put on a roof. In this way you may make it watertight. * * * * * THATCHING. For thatching you can use thick spruce branches, or grass, reeds, sods, slabs of wood or bark (called "shingles"), or small twigs of heather closely woven in. It is generally advisable to lay a few branches and stout poles over the thatch when finished in order to keep it on if a gale springs up. [Illustration: FRAMEWORK.] If you want to build a complete hut, you can make a lean-to from each side on the same ridge-pole; but the single lean-to, with its fire in front of it, is quite good enough for most people. Another way to build a shelter hut is to lean a ridge-pole or backbone from the ground into the fork of a small tree about 5 ft. above the ground, the butt of the pole being about 4 ft. to windward of the tree. Then put up a few side poles leaning against this, and roof over in the same way as for a lean-to. Build your fire just in front of this, and you will have a very safe and cosy little house. [Illustration: THATCHING.] In country where there are no trees to make poles with, like parts of South Africa, where there is only a lot of small thorn bush and long grass, you can make "scherms," or loose thorn bushes piled in a heap and made into a small horse-shoe, arched over, back to wind, and covered or roughly thatched with grass. These, with a fire in front, make very good shelter against cold wind or against sun, and, if covered with a canvas waggon-sail or tarpaulin, make a good enough protection against rain and against very hot sun. A "scherm" can be made with heather or gorse--only look out for its catching fire! [Illustration: A SHELTER HUT.] Remember that to make a tent or hut cool in hot sun put on more roof--put blankets over the top of your tent, and bank up the sides near the ground. But if you want to make your tent or hut warm, take care to thicken the walls at the foot to prevent draughts coming in along the floor. Also never forget that your floor is on raised ground, not in a hollow that will become a pool in wet weather. * * * * * CAMP FURNITURE. Having made your tent or hut, you will find it a good comfort in a standing camp to have a table. This you can well make in winter evenings before the camping season, and while you are at it making one for yourself; you may just as well make two or three more to sell to other people, and so add money to your camping fund. The table should be separate from its legs, so that it can be packed easily in the cart. If stakes can be got at camp, you would drive four of these into the ground with a "maul" (big mallet), making them exactly the same height, and lay your table top on these. To make your table top, bits of board or old packing cases can be planed smooth, and trimmed, and screwed together by cross-battens underneath to form a tabletop of the size required; 34 in. by 40 in. is a useful and portable size. [Illustration: TABLE WHEN FINISHED.] A pair of folding trestle legs can then be made for the table. These are two frames, one just narrow enough to go inside the other, but both of the same length. A CAMP STOOL can be made in much the same way, with a strip of canvas or carpet or several strings of webbing nailed across, from the top of one trestle to the other, the trestles, of course, being quite small. [Illustration: UNDER SIDE OF TABLE TOP.] CANDLESTICKS, Forks, Tongs, and other small articles of camp furniture are shown in _Scouting for Boys_, and can easily be made in the winter evenings. If neatly done they also command a good sale at bazaars. CAMP BEDS are also described in _Scouting for Boys_, and straw

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