i 4 THE WALKS ABROAD OF 



Two minutes brought them to the sands. 



" Stop a minute, what is this ? " Rene* called all at 

 once, as he was stooping down to pick up from the 

 sand a little ball of the size of a sweet chestnut, and 

 covered, like that fruit, with green spines. " So 

 chestnuts grow in the sand at Villers ! " 



ANIMAL ! TIIIS LITTLE BALL OF SPINES AN ANIMAL i 



" Yes, chestnuts, but not chestnut-trees," said 

 Leon. " And in fact you are not the first who has 

 noticed the resemblance ; almost everywhere this 

 curious animal is called a sea-chestnut, though natu- 

 ralists call it a sea-urchin." 



"An animal! that an animal ! a little ball covered 

 with spines y Perhaps it, is a fish. It might possibly 



