at one of the little householders, have been amused to see
them scamper indoors as they approached, and come out again as soon as
they had passed. All around, within the range of a gun, there was not a
marmot to be seen, but at a safe distance there were hundreds, or even
thousands, on the watch.

The opening of a marmot's burrow is four or five inches in width, and
the passage runs downwards in a sloping direction for several feet. It
then makes a sharp turn, and continues horizontally for some distance
further, till it turns slightly upwards. The marmot's nest is made at
the extreme end of the burrow, and there can be little doubt that the
last upward turn of the burrow is meant to keep the nest dry, when,
after a heavy storm, rain-water flows into the mouth of the passage. The
burrows are generally within a few feet of each other, and as the ground
above them gives way under pressure, they are often a source of great
danger to travellers upon horseback. The horses' feet slip, and there is
great risk of their spraining or breaking a limb. For this reason
parties of travellers often have to go several miles out of their way,
in order to get round a prairie dogs' village.

Prairie dogs live upon grass, and near their burrows the grass is
cropped quite short by their flat, chisel-shaped teeth. In one respect
they are very strong, for it takes a very serious injury to kill them,
and they quickly recover from small ones. They have one or two enemies,
the worst of which is probably the rattlesnake, which often takes up its
residence in their holes. But, notwithstanding their enemies, the
marmots increase in numbers very quickly, and soon over-run a favourable
district. In winter they hibernate like our squirrels, passing several
months underground in a kind of slow and nearly motionless existence.
The sleep enables the animal to live on, after its grass-food is
exhausted in autumn, until the crop grows again in spring.

THE WAY TO COMMAND.

In the year 1852, Gordon got his commission in the Royal Engineers. Two
years later, he volunteered to go out to the Crimea, and came in for his
full share of the terrible sufferings and privations of the ensuing
winter.

One day, it is said, he came upon a corporal and a sapper, engaged in a
hot dispute. The corporal wanted the sapper to stand up exposed on the
ramparts, while he handed him up some baskets from below. Gordon at once
sprang up to the parapet, told the corpo