Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

232 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTor entered by insects. Anything that is not injuredby dampness can be hidden more securely by diggingunder an old embedded log, laying it there, coveringit up, and restoring the surface to its former appearance.A secret storehouse for tools, utensils, etc., thatyou may wish to leave near the camp until nextseason may be dug in a dry bank and roofed overwith logs, brush, and then a layer of earth, like adug-out, the interior being lined with poles and drygrass, brush, or bark.Another way, when you have a cabin, is to floorit with split puncheons conspicuously spiked to wallsand sleepers. One or two of these puncheons haveonly spike heads driven in the usual places, and areremovable. They are fitted with hidden fasteningsto keep them firmly in place. This false flooringcommunicates with a miniature cellar, rock lined,under the middle of the cabin. Boxes are made thatcan be sealed air-tight (for example, with adhesiveplaster). Articles to be stored are thoroughlydried, sealed up in the boxes, on a day when theair is not moist, and the chests are placed in thecellar, resting on flat rocks.Generally I prefer to build the cache separatefrom the camp, and hidden at some distance fromIt. Then, in case the camp is entered by prowlers,or burned out, I will not be minus tools and beddingat the next visit. The cache may be built of rocksunder the overhang of a ledge where nobody elseis likely to go, or of notched logs with slab roofspiked down, or in other ways, according to circumstances.One will use his wits in utilizing suchfacilitiesas the country affords.have had occasion to locateMasked Camps.— Iwould be out of the way ofmy lone camp where it—thieves or interlopers, beast or human, as I would beaway a good part of the time. Such devices willvary, of course, with the locality one is in. Hereare a few general principles to bear in mind.