"Halt!" I cried out. I soon got rid of my travelling gear, an example my companions were not slow in following. L'Encuerado and Lucien immediately set to work to find some dry branches, while Sumichrast and I began to cut down the grass over a space of several square yards. "Have we finished our day's journey, then?" asked Lucien. "Yes," I replied; "don't you feel tired?" "Not very; I could easily go farther. Have we walked very far?" "About four leagues." "And are we really going to rest after a trifle like that? I always thought travellers went on walking until night." "Nonsense!" said I, taking hold of his ear. "What an undaunted young pedestrian! Four leagues a day are no such trifle when you have to begin again next morning. 'Slow and steady wins the race,' says an old proverb, which I intend to carry out to the letter; for forced marches would soon injure our health, and then good-bye to the success of our expedition. As to walking until night, it is perfectly impossible, except when one is certain to meet with an inn. Under these large trees, no one will ever think of getting ready a meal for us; and, I suppose, you haven't much wish to die of hunger. We may very likely have to tramp one or two leagues more before we are able to kill the game which will form the mainstay of our dinner." "I never thought of all that," said Lucien, shaking his head, and looking convinced; "but what shall we have to eat this evening?" "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'll see how greedily you will make a dinner off whatever Providence provides." "Do you think we shall 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, l'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 defiance, if not the cold.