Summary
Jordan makes a blind out of pine boughs to hide the machine gun. Rafael sheepishly returns with two fat hares that he killed when he left his duty station and Jordan lectures him-what if it had been a cavalry unit?-and tells him to being breakfast. The group nervously continues to expect a contingent of troops to appear out of the woods. Pablo rides in circles upon the dead soldier's horse, hoping to get the rest of his unit off the track. Jordan does not want to admit how intelligent Pablo is and fears having to rely on the gypsy Rafael during is mission.

Analysis
Rafael is here compared to Anselmo, the only truly noble character in the novel. Anselmo remained on duty even though he almost froze, and Rafael, in a comic scene which breaks up the increasing tension, chases after rabbits because he is hungry. To the laughter of the group Rafael tells of shooting the hares while they were mating, but there is an ominous undertone to this event. Jordan, after all, refers to Maria as "rabbit," which in a sense makes him a rabbit, or a hare, too. Thus, this possibly foreshadows Jordan's death.