A YOUNG NATURALIST. 49 



"At present, I haven't the least idea; perhaps a hare or a 

 bird, or even a rat." 



" A rat ! I certainly will never touch one." 



"Ah! my boy, wait till you are really hungry, — you don't 

 know as yet what it is to be so, — and then you '11 see how greedily 

 you will make a dinner off whatever Providence provides." 



" Do you think we shaU often have to go a whole day without 

 eating ?" 



" I hope not," I answered, smiling at Lucien's anxious and 

 somewhat pensive tone. 



During this conversation, I'Encuerado, as active as a monkey, 

 had clambered up a pine, and his machete was strewing the 

 ground with slender boughs. We, also, set to work at shaping 

 the stakes, which I drove into the ground by means of a stone, 

 which served as a hammer. Some branches, interwoven and tied 

 together by creepers, formed a kind of hurdle, which, fixed on 

 the top of the posts, did for a roof. The Indian, assisted by his 

 little companion, who was much interested in all the preparations, 

 filled the hut with leaves, and covered the branches with a layer 

 of dry grass. Under this shelter, we could set the rain at defi- 

 ance, if not the cold. 



It is impossible to describe Lucien's enchantment. This house 

 (for this was the name he chose to give to the shapeless hut, in 

 which our party could scarcely stand upright) appeared to him 

 a perfect master-piece of architecture, and he was astonished 

 at the rapidity with which it had been built. He helped I'En- 

 cuerado to make up the fire, so that all that was requisite on our 

 return was to set a light to it. Theh, armed with our guns, we 

 set off to seek for our dinners. 



Seeing that we left behind us all our baggage, Lucien ex- 

 claimed — 



" Suppose any one came and stole our provisions 1 " 



" Upon my word," cried Sumichrast, " you 're the boy to think 

 of everything. But there 's no need to fear this misfortune ; 

 most likely, we are the only persons in the forest ; or if any one 

 else should be here, it would be an almost miraculous chance if 

 they discovered our bivouac." 



