his house, and prepared, as it were, "to receive cavalry."
The most ludicrous thing about them was that, although
the most timid and cowardly creatures in the
world, they seemed the most impertinent things that
ever lived! Knowing that their holes afforded them a
perfectly safe retreat, they sat close beside them; and as
the hunters slowly approached, they elevated their heads,
wagged their little tails, showed their teeth, and chattered
at them like monkeys. The nearer they came the
more angry and furious did the prairie-dogs become,