Our little party, therefore, once more plunged into the forest, rather at random, though taking care not to go too far from the stream. Two or three times we seemed to have reached the spot where we left the bank; but we soon got into the most inextricable thickets. As the time wore on, I began to think we had passed the place; and, as is often the case in similar circumstances, opinions were divided. A fox, which appeared within gunshot, interrupted our discussion. I fired, and the animal fell. It was a magnificent specimen, and exactly like its European confrere. By a singular chance, at the very moment it was expiring, a crow just above our heads uttered a loud croaking.
"There! the crow is thanking us for having rid him of his enemy, the fox," said Sumichrast to Lucien.
The boy laughed heartily at this joke. In spite of our advice, l'Encuerado would insist upon skinning the animal, whose pelt he wished to preserve. Fortunately, he was very quick at such an operation, and the beautiful fur was soon hanging over his arm, ready to be stretched outside his basket to dry.
"I hope," said Sumichrast to Lucien, "that you have already recognized the fox's relationship."
"Oh yes! in its color and shape it is like the cayotte."
"You are quite right, but the cayotte and the fox are both Gringalet's cousins."
"I can scarcely believe that, for Gringalet has short hair, is spotted with black and white, has gray eyes—"
"Those are only secondary characteristics," interrupted Sumichrast. "Gringalet belongs to the carnivorous type, called by naturalists Digitigrades."
"Is Gringalet a digitigrade?" asked Lucien, smiling.
"Yes, certainly; that is to say, he walks on his toes, and not on the sole of his feet, exactly like the fox, whose teeth, also, are perfectly similar to those of Gringalet. The principal difference between them is, that the fox has eyes which are formed so as to enable it to see in the dark, a quality which Gringalet does not possess in the same degree."