ttle tails
wriggled for an instant in the air--then, a dead silence reigned over
the deserted scene.

"Bien, them's have dive into de bo'-els of de eart'," said Henri with a
broad grin.

Presently a thousand noses appeared, and nervously disappeared like the
wink of an eye. Then they appeared again, and a thousand pairs of eyes
followed. Instantly, like Jack in the box, they were all on the top of
their hillocks again, chattering and wagging their little tails as
vigorously as ever. You could not say that you _saw_ them jump out of
their holes. Suddenly, as if by magic, they _were_ out; then Dick
tossed up his arms, and, suddenly, as if by magic, they were gone!

Their number was incredible, and their cities were full of riotous
activity. What their occupations were the hunters could not ascertain,
but it was perfectly evident that they visited a great deal and gossiped
tremendously, for they ran about from house to house, and sat chatting
in groups; but it was also observed that they never went far from their
own houses. Each seemed to have a circle of acquaintance in the
immediate neighbourhood of his own residence, to which in case of sudden
danger he always fled.

But another thing about these prairie-dogs (perhaps, considering their
size, we should call them prairie-doggies), another thing about them, we
say, was that each doggie lived with an owl, or, more correctly, an owl
lived with each doggie! This is such an extraordinary _fact_, that we
could scarce hope that men would believe us, were our statement not
supported by dozens of trustworthy travellers who have visited and
written about these regions. The whole plain was covered with these
owls. Each hole seemed to be the residence of an owl and a doggie, and
these incongruous couples lived together apparently in perfect harmony.

We have not been able to ascertain from travellers _why_ the owls have
gone to live with these doggies, so we beg humbly to offer our own
private opinion to the reader. We assume, then, that owls find it
absolutely needful to have holes. Probably prairie-owls cannot dig
holes for themselves. Having discovered, however, a race of little
creatures that could, they very likely determined to take forcible
possession of the holes made by them. Finding, no doubt, that, when
they did so, the doggies were too timid to object, and discovering,
moreover, that they were sweet, innocent little creatures, the owls
resolved to tak