[Illustration:  Fig. 39.  Cutting out the Door Flaps.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 40.  Sewing on the Door Flaps.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 41.  Adjustable Ridge Pole.]

[Illustration:  The Wall tent Set Up in the Back Yard.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 42.  The Tent Set Up.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 43.  The Wood Tie Block.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 44.  The Wire Tie Block.]

[Illustration:  Fig. 45.  Bottom of Tent Wall.]

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.

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

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

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