ilty of an
interruption. "I ought to have explained that before, but I was
interested in the Little Villager and forgot it. It was a big
rattlesnake which had got tired of its old hole and taken a fancy to
that of the owls. So the owls had had nothing to do but get out,
without even a half-minute to talk over the matter. And hating to stay
out in the full glare of the sun, which was very hard on their eyes,
they had invited themselves to live with the Little Villager just
because his house was the first they came to.

"All the rest of the day the Little Villager and his companion were
extremely discontented. Their burrow was a very roomy and comfortable
one, but it was spoiled for them by the presence of those two
moon-eyed, hook-beaked, solemn persons sitting side by side in the
opposite corner. So they spent most of their time outside on the
hillock, gossiping about it to their neighbors, who were extremely
interested and full of suggestions, but showed no inclination whatever
to come and help turn the intruders out. That was a thing which had
never been attempted in their village, and the prairie dogs were not
noted for their initiative. In learning to get together and live in
villages they had apparently exhausted it all. They were always ready
to chatter, from morning to night, about anything, and protest against
it, and declare that it must not be permitted, but they always shirked
the bother of united action, even to suppress the most dangerous and
destructive of nuisances.

"When evening came, however, they had the house to themselves. The
owls, getting lively as the sunset colors faded from the sky, scuttled
forth and sat up side by side on the top of the hillock. As soon as it
was full night, and the stars had come out clear and large in the
deeply crystalline sky, they began hovering hither and thither on their
wide, soundless wings, hunting the tiny prairie mice, which swarmed
among the hillocks after dark.

"While they were thus pleasantly occupied, the Little Villager and his
companion had an idea. It was not a very usual thing with them, and
they hastened to act upon it lest it should get away. They proceeded
to block up their entrance tunnel about three feet from the door. They
packed the earth hard, and made a good job of it, and flattered
themselves that their guests would not get in in a hurry, even if they
were pretty good burrowers themselves. Then at the extreme opposite
corner o