Feeling herself doubly safe Lucie turned to view the shelf and what was thereon. But the instant the head appeared above the top came again a wild flutter of wings, and a second squawking hen, disturbed in her retreat, flew in an agony of fright down from her nest and directly upon the back of the donkey. Victor made a grab at her as she went sailing by in a second flight, and Master Long Ears no longer feeling a detaining hand, kicked up his heels and went clattering out the door, bearing Lucie frantically trying to keep her feet and to get hold of the reins. Fortunately the donkey once outside stopped at sight of green fields and began deliberately to crop the grass. Lucie collapsed in a fit of mirth upon the floor of the cart. Victor came running out, at first alarmed, and then ready to join in her laughter. “It is not meant that I should get at those eggs,” declared Lucie. “You will have to get them, Victor.” [Illustration: Monsieur was wounded, night came, no one knew that he lay there, there were so many. The little dog knew and he went out to find him.] “But what a remarkable hen,” remarked Victor, “to lay two eggs in a day.” Lucie went off again into another burst of laughter. “But, no,” she cried, “it was not the same hen. That other was brown; this is speckled. There are then two of them.” “_Ma foi!_” cried Victor, “one does not have to go far for a joke even in these days.” He returned to the shed, climbed up to the shelf, and presently reappeared with his pockets bulging. “My first foraging expedition,” he announced, “and here are the fruits, a half dozen eggs. We will commandeer these, a reserve for future use. We may be glad enough of them on our way. As for those hens they will have to fend for themselves, for there is no time to hunt them.” He deposited the eggs in one of the baskets, they climbed back again into the cart, undertook the task of persuading Long Ears to leave his pastures new, and finally they were on their way back to the town, arriving without mishap; then, with the consent of such authority as still existed, they set forth on the more precarious expedition to the next station. Victor realized that time was short and it would be a close shave for him, for he must get back to camp at the proper hour. He had promised to return the borrowed cart and donkey, but in doing this, he resolved that he must let the future take care of itself. If he could not return the borrowed articles in person, some one else could, and that was all there was to it.