To build a fire in the rain with no dry wood in sight seems a difficult problem, but keep cheerful, hum your favorite tune, and look for a pine-knot or birch bark and an old dead stump or log. In the centre of the dead wood you will find dry wood; dig it out and, after starting the fire with either birch bark or pine-knot, use the dry wood as kindling. When it begins to burn, add larger pieces of wood, and soon the fire will grow strong enough to burn wet wood. If there happens to be a big rock in your camp, build your fire on the sheltered side and directly against the stone, which will act as a windbreak and keep the driving rain from extinguishing the fire. A slightly shelving bank would also form a shelter for it. A pine-knot is always a good friend to the girl camper, both in dry and wet weather, but is especially friendly when it rains and everything is dripping wet.
You will find pine-knots in wooded sections where pine-trees grow; or, if you are located near water where there are no trees, look for pine-knots in driftwood washed ashore. When secured cut thin slices down part way all around the elongated knot and circle it with many layers of shavings until the knot somewhat resembles a toy tree. The inside will be absolutely dry, and this branching knot will prove reliable and start your fire without fail. Birch bark will start a fire even when the bark is damp, and it is one of the best things you can have as a starter for an outdoor, rainy-day fire.
Take your cue from the forest guides, and while in the woods always carry some dry birch bark in your pocket for a fire in case of rain.
One way to make the outdoor fireplace is to lay two _green_ logs side by side on the ground in a narrow V shape, but open at both ends; only a few inches at one end, a foot or more at the other. The fire is built between the logs, and the frying-pan and pail of water, resting on both logs, bridge across the fire. Should the widest space between the logs be needed, place two slender green logs at right angles across the V logs, and have these short top cross logs near enough together to hold the frying-pans set on them (Fig. 26).
When there are no green logs, build the fireplace with three rectangular sides of stone, open front, and make the fire in the centre; the pots and pans rest across the fire on the stones.