rred to me that
with my steel hunting-knife and a piece of flint fire could be obtained.
Immediately I set about preparing tinder with dry moss, rotten wood, and
wild cotton; and in a short time I had the wished fire, and heaped wood
dry and green on it to make it large. I nursed it well, and spent the
night beside it; and it also served to roast some huge white grubs which
I had found in the rotten wood of a prostrate trunk. The sight of these
great grubs had formerly disgusted me; but they tasted good to me now,
and stayed my hunger, and that was all I looked for in my wild forest
food.

For a long time an undefined feeling prevented me from going near the
site of Nuflo's burnt lodge. I went there at last; and the first thing I
did was to go all round the fatal spot, cautiously peering into the
rank herbage, as if I feared a lurking serpent; and at length, at some
distance from the blackened heap, I discovered a human skeleton, and
knew it to be Nuflo's. In his day he had been a great armadillo-hunter,
and these quaint carrion-eaters had no doubt revenged themselves by
devouring his flesh when they found him dead--killed by the savages.

Having once returned to this spot of many memories, I could not quit it
again; while my wild woodland life lasted, here must I have my lair, and
being here I could not leave that mournful skeleton above ground. With
labour I excavated a pit to bury it, careful not to cut or injure a
broad-leafed creeper that had begun to spread itself over the spot; and
after refilling the hole I drew the long, trailing stems over the mound.

"Sleep well, old man," said I, when my work was done; and these few
words, implying neither censure nor praise, was all the burial service
that old Nuflo had from me.

I then visited the spot where the old man, assisted by me, had concealed
his provisions before starting for Riolama, and was pleased to find that
it had not been discovered by the Indians. Besides the store of tobacco
leaf, maize, pumpkin, potatoes, and cassava bread, and the cooking
utensils, I found among other things a chopper--a great acquisition,
since with it I would be able to cut down small palms and bamboos to
make myself a hut.

The possession of a supply of food left me time for many things: time
in the first place to make my own conditions; doubtless after them
there would be further progression on the old lines--luxuries added to
necessaries; a healthful, fruitful life of thought