TRAMPING OUTFITS.
Our winter expedition to Willow Clump Island filled us with a wholesome
respect for Arctic explorers. If we could find it so uncomfortable with
the thermometer only at 10 degrees above zero, what would it be to
endure a temperature of 40, 50 or even 60 degrees below zero? We were
interested to learn how they managed to stand it. This led to a study of
the subject in Mr. Van Syckel's library.
SLEEPING BAGS.
In one of the books Dutchy came across the description of a sleeping
bag. It was made of reindeer's skin sewed into a large bag with the fur
side turned in. This bag was large enough to hold three or four
sleepers, and each man was covered with a pair of woolen bags, one bag
slipped inside the other. The woolen bags were made of blankets sewed
together and provided with flaps at the upper ends to cover the head of
the sleeper.
Of course, we had to make a sleeping bag, too. The innermost bag was
made of an old quilt and the next one of a blanket that we were
fortunate enough to get hold of. But when it came to the reindeer skin
we were balked, until we happened to run across a piece of rubber
sheeting at the village store. This was a lucky find, for I doubt if one
country store in a hundred carries such stock. The piece was just large
enough to cover the blanket bag and allow for an ample flap to cover the
head. To be sure, this furnished a shelter for only one person, and
there were six in the society. It was clear that the treasury could not
afford the expense of six sleeping bags; but as such a device would be
useful only under very unusual circumstances we decided that two
sleeping bags would be all the society would need. We had been rather
curious to explore the country back of the hills on the Pennsylvania
side of the river, and with some light provisions and these sleeping
bags strapped to the back a couple of boys could make quite an extended
tour, unmindful of weather conditions. On real hot nights a fellow could
get into the quilt bag and sleep on the blanket and waterproof bag. In
cold weather the combination of all three bags provided sufficient
warmth. The rubber bag would protect the sleeper from any moisture in
the ground, and would also keep him thoroughly dry, even in a pouring
rain.
BILL'S "MUMMY CASE."
[Illustration: Fig. 200. Bottom Piece of Sleeping Bag.]
[Illustration: Fig. 201. Top Piece of Sleeping Bag.]
[Illustration: Fig. 202. Headboards.]
Our second sleeping bag was Bill's own design, and was, in many
respects, an improvement on the first, though it looked ridiculously
like an Egyptian mummy case. The inner bags were just like those of the
first sleeping bag, but as there was no more rubber sheeting in town we
had to make the outer bag of enameled cloth, such as is used for
carriage curtains. Out of this cloth Bill cut a piece of the shape shown
in Fig. 200 to serve as bottom, sides and ends of the sleeping bag. The
bag was sewed wrong side out; that is, the piece was laid with enameled
side up, and then the corners were sewed together after painting the
seams with white lead. Then a top piece was cut out, of the size
indicated in Fig. 201. The edges were hemmed over a piece of rope, which
thus formed a corded edge. Now, with the enameled side of the cover
piece turned inward, its edges were sewed to the edges of the first
piece. The bag was now turned inside out, so that the enameled surface
lay on the outside and the seams turned inward. The corded edge on the
cover piece lapped over the sides, forming a watershed.
[Illustration: Fig. 203. The Mummy Case.]
[Illustration: Fig. 204. Sleeping Bag in Use.]
It was Bill's idea to rig up the flap in such a manner that it would not
lie against the face, so that the sleeper could have plenty of fresh
air, even in rainy weather. This required the use of two headboards, of
the form shown in Fig. 202. The headboards were connected at the bottom
by a thin board, and to this framework the sides of the bag were nailed.
To the end flap several cleats were nailed, adapted to fit into notches
cut in the headboards. The cleat at the end of the flap was laid on
edge, as shown, and fitted into deep notches in the headboards just
above the edge of the cover piece. This held the flap securely,
preventing it from flying open in a heavy wind. At the same time the
small space between the flap and the cover piece allowed for an ample
supply of fresh air. When using this sleeping bag, if there was any
indication of a shower, we took care to have the head pointed to
windward so as to prevent entrance of rain through this air space.
THE "A" TENT.
[Illustration: Fig. 205. The "A" Tent.]
In connection with the sleeping bags it may be well to describe here a
curious shelter Dutchy and I came across in one of our tramps. It was
just about dusk one day when we discovered a temporary camp at which a
couple of men were preparing dinner. They informed us that they were
naturalists on a two weeks' outing. At their invitation we joined camp
with them. They had a small "A" tent of balloon silk, under which they
kept their provisions. The tent had no ridge pole, but was supported
instead by a rope stretched between two trees (see Fig. 205).
A CAMP CHAIR.
[Illustration: Fig. 206. The Camp Chair.]
[Illustration: Fig. 207. Pockets in the Canvas Back.]
The camp was also furnished with an easy canvas chair, made by driving a
couple of short posts in the ground for front legs and a pair of longer
ones for the back. A piece of canvas was hung over these posts, forming
both seat and back. The posts were driven into the ground on a slant, as
illustrated in Fig. 206, and the canvas was formed with pockets at the
corners which were hooked over these posts. This made a very comfortable
chair, though, of course, it was fixed to one spot. When the men moved
camp they would carry with them only the canvas piece, and at the next
stopping place new posts were chopped and used for legs.
[Illustration: Waiting for a Bite.]
[Illustration: Temporary Shelter under an "A" Tent.]
THE CAMP BED.
[Illustration: Fig. 208. Canvas Bed.]
But what interested us most was the form of bed they had. This, like the
chair, consisted of a piece of canvas arranged to be supported on posts
cut from the woods in the neighborhood of the camp. The canvas piece was
3 feet wide and 6 feet long, with a wide hem at each side, forming
pockets through which poles were passed, as in a stretcher. The ends of
the poles were supported on posts driven into the ground. The poles were
also propped up at the center, as shown, the pockets being cut away and
bound, so as not to permit any wear on the canvas. To prevent the posts
from leaning inward under the weight of the sleeper, they were braced
apart by cross sticks.
[Illustration: Fig. 209. Bed Set up on Posts.]
THE CAMP BED IN A SHOWER.
[Illustration: Fig. 210. A Poncho.]
[Illustration: Fig. 211. Camp Bed in the Rain.]
[Illustration: Fig. 212. Umbrella with Fly.]
As a precaution against rain, a tall post was set up at the head and
another at the foot of the bed, and a rope was stretched over the posts
with the ends fastened to stakes driven into the ground. Over this rope
a rubber "poncho" was laid to keep off the rain. A "poncho," by the way,
is a blanket of rubber cloth about 4-1/2 feet wide and 6 feet long, in
the center of which is a slit through which you can put your head; then
the rubber cloth falls over you like a cape, as in Fig. 210, and makes a
perfect protection against rain. The ponchos these men had were not
quite long enough to cover the whole bed, so they fastened umbrellas to
the head posts, as shown in Fig. 212. During a shower in the woods the
rain comes straight down in large drops, caused by the water collecting
on the leaves. To prevent these large drops from splashing through the
umbrellas, they laid pieces of cloth over the umbrellas, which served,
like the fly of a tent, to check the fall of rain drops.
A NIGHTMARE.
I slept in the mummy case that night and Dutchy in the first sleeping
bag. It must have been about midnight when I was awakened by a most
unearthly yell. It sent the cold chills running up and down my back. A
second scream brought me into action, and I struggled to throw back the
head flap, which had become caught. It seemed an age before I could open
it and wriggle out of the bag. Dutchy was sitting up in bed with a look
of horror on his face, and his whole body was in a tremor of fear. One
of the men dashed a glass of water in his face, which brought him back
to his senses. It was only a nightmare, we found. Dutchy dreamed he had
been injured in a railway accident and had been taken for dead to the
morgue. He tried to let them know that he was alive, but couldn't utter
a sound, until finally he burst out with the yells that roused the camp.
Then, as he awoke with the horror of the dream still on him, his eyes
fell on the two stretcher beds that looked like biers and the black
coffin-like sleeping bag. It was not much wonder that Dutchy was
frightened. The camp did certainly have a most ghastly appearance in the
vague moonlight that filtered through the trees, and it must have been
still more gruesome to see the coffin and biers suddenly burst open and
the corpses come running toward him. To prevent any further nightmare we
set Dutchy's sleeping bag under the "A" tent, where he would be saved
the horror of again waking up in a morgue.
PACK HARNESS.
[Illustration: Fig. 213. Pack Harness.]
In the morning our friends broke camp and started westward. Dutchy and I
watched them packing up their goods into a couple of very compact
bundles, which they strapped to their backs with a peculiar pack
harness. I took careful note of the way the harness was put together,
and when we returned to the island we made two sets for use on our
tramping expeditions. A canvas yoke was first cut out to the form shown
in Fig. 213. We used two thicknesses of the heaviest brown canvas we
could find, binding the two pieces together with tape. The yoke was
padded with cotton at the shoulders and a strap was fastened to each
shoulder piece. These were arranged to be buckled to a pair of straps
fastened to the back of the yoke and passing under the arms. Riveted to
these straps were a pair of straps used for fastening on the pack. The
yoke straps were attached with the rough side against the yoke, while
the pack straps were riveted on with the rough side uppermost, as
indicated in the drawing.
RIVETING.
[Illustration: Fig. 214. Riveting the Straps Together.]
The method of riveting together the leather straps may need a word of
explanation. A copper rivet was passed through a hole in the two straps;
then the washer was slipped over the projecting end of the rivet. This
washer had to be jammed down tight against the leather, and to do this
we drilled a hole of the diameter of the rivet in a block of wood, and
putting this block over the washer, with the end of the rivet projecting
into the hole, we hammered the block until the washer was forced down
tight against the leather. Then taking a light tack hammer we battered
down the end of the rivet onto the washer. Care was taken to do this
hammering very lightly, otherwise the end would have been bent over
instead of being flattened.