AN AMUSING SCENE. 37 



branches of which were well adapted to hide me from the 

 keenest eyes, and to enable me to see without being seen. 



With as little noise as possible, therefore, I retreated, 

 and having chosen my position, stood motionless and 

 silent, with my eyes fixed on the " village," the gates and 

 windows of which, though wide open, exhibited no signs 

 of life. 



After a while, a few astute old fellows cautiously thrust 

 forth the tip of their nose at the mouth of one of the 

 galleries, and then immediately vanished. Others made a 

 rapid run outside, but only to rush from one opening to 

 another. 



At length, some of the marmots, reassured by the tran- 

 quillity which prevailed around, and the absolute silence, 

 came to the conclusion that all danger was past, and issued 

 from their dens. Somewhat hastily they crossed a space 

 tolerably distant from the hole whence they had emerged, 

 and entered another burrow. It was impossible to resist 

 the idea that they were bound on a visit to some friend or 

 relative, in order to relate the alarm they had experienced, 

 and to discuss with him its probable cause ; to exchange, 

 in a word, their mutual impressions, and compare obser- 

 vations on the strange appearances which had passed before 

 their eyes. 



Other marmots, of greater audacity, collected in small 

 groups in the middle of the streets, and their " conversa- 

 tion " probably turned on the recent invasion of the re- 

 public, as well as upon the best means of defence. Some- 

 times an orator sprang upon the summit of a hillock which 

 commanded the whole assemblage, and thence explained 



