52 THE ADVENTURES OE 



The poor child was making his dihut as a sportsman, and 

 his heart seemed rather full, although he was very proud of this 

 first proof of his skill. Sumichrast was the first to congratulate 

 him. As for me, although I was well aware of the Indian's pru- 

 dence, I made up my mind, if only for the sake of economising 

 our powder, both to blame him and also to caution him against 

 his desire of letting the boy shoot. 



" Come," said I to Lucien, who was hugging his gun against 

 his chest, "you must be our leader in finding our way back to 

 our encampment. You marked out the road, so mind you don't 

 mislead us." 



Our young guide led us back to our starting-point with far 

 more self-possession than I expected. 



" A child's attention is always being drawn away," observed 

 Sumichrast to me. " How do you explain Lucien's having fol- 

 lowed the trail so readily ? " 



" Perhaps because it was partly his own work," I replied. 



" It is, too, because I am so short," replied the child, with an 

 arch smile ; "I am much closer to the ground than you are, 

 almost as close as Gringalet, who is so very clever in finding a 

 trail. You see, papa, that it 's some benefit in being little, and 

 that I have some chance of being useful." 



I need hardly say how much we were diverted at this novel 

 argument against a lofty stature. 



" At this rate," I replied, " I ought to have brought your 

 brother Emile ; for he is so short that he would have followed a 

 trail even better than you.'' 



" Of course, you ought. Don't you recollect that when we 

 were walking over the mountain of Borrego, he often spied out 

 insects that you had missed seeing ? " 



I was evidently regularly beaten. 



We sat down in front of the fire, before which the two squir- 

 rels were roasting. L'Encuerado caught in a dish the fat which 

 trickled down from the animals, and every now and then basted 

 the meat with it. 



The flesh of the squirrel, both in flavour and colour, much 

 resembles that of the hare : so our little messmate ate it with 



