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 squirrels 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 flavor and color, much resembles that
of the hare; so our little mess-mate ate it with evident enjoyment.
Dried maize-cakes, called _totopo_, took the place of bread, and each
one had his allowance of it.

We couldn't help feeling uneasy about Gringalet: we had given him about
half a squirrel, but instead of eating it, he thought fit to roll
himself upon it frantically. The poor beast had consequently only some
scraps of _totopo_. It was, however, highly necessary to accustom him to
feed on game, as our maize-cakes were far too valuable to be doled out
thus. Each of us poured a little water from his gourd into a calabash,
which served for a drinking-vessel. The poor dog, thus allowanced, must
have been sorry that he ever joined us.

The sun was perceptibly sinking.

"Well, Lucien," asked Sumichrast, "what do you think now of rat's
flesh?"

"I'll tell you when I have eaten some of it."

"What! don't you know that the squirrel and the rat are very near
relations, and that they both belong to the Rodent family?"

"They certainly are a little alike," said the child, making a comical
face.

"Especially the species which we had for our dinner; which, by-the-by,
is not yet classed by naturalists. Look! its coat is black on the back,
gray on the flanks, and white under the belly. The ears, too, are bare,
instead of having those long points of hair which give such a knowing
look to the European squirrels."

"Do squirrels feed on flesh?"

"No; acorns, buds, nuts, grain, and sometimes grasses, constitute their
principal food."

"Then," replie