In chapter 14, Brain decides to rebuild his shelter after he learns that it is not sufficient to keep out animals. One night, he awakens to a skunk digging up his stashed turtle eggs. This episode goes badly for him, as he ends up painfully blinded for a few hours after getting sprayed by the skunk. It becomes absolutely clear to Brian that he must be able to protect his food, or he will starve.

The next day, Brian tears down his old shelter and spends three days building a better one. He constructs walls of tightly woven branches that he feels should be sufficient to keep out any creatures that are after his food stores. He converts a hollow in the rock above his shelter into a food pantry by constructing a door to cover it. He also creates a little wall in the pond in which he can trap fish to more efficiently catch them as needed.

Food, Brian has realized, is the most important part of survival. The episode with the skunk has taught him that he has to be strategic and think ahead about preserving the food that he has gathered.