[Monsieur Violet by Frederick Marryat]@TWC D-Link bookMonsieur Violet CHAPTER XI 12/16
We rode leisurely along until we had reached the more thickly settled portion of the city, when we halted, and after taking the bridles from our horses to allow them to graze, we prepared for a regular attack upon its inhabitants. The burrows were not more than fifteen yards apart, with well-trodden paths leading in different directions, and I even thought I could discover something like regularity in the laying out of the streets.
We sat down upon a bank under the shade of a musqueet tree, and leisurely surveyed the scene before us.
Our approach had driven every one in our immediate vicinity to his home; but some hundred yards off, the small mound of earth in front of a burrow was each occupied by a dog sitting straight up on his hinder legs, and coolly looking about him to ascertain the cause of the recent commotion.
Every now and then some citizen, more venturous than his neighbour, would leave his lodge on a flying visit to a companion, apparently to exchange a few words, and then scamper back as fast as his legs would carry him. By-and-bye, as we kept perfectly still, some of our nearer neighbours were seen cautiously poking their heads from out their holes and looking cunningly, and at the same time inquisitively, about them.
After some time, a dog would emerge from the entrance of his domicile, squat upon his looking-out place, shake his head, and commence yelping. For three hours we remained watching the movements of these animals, and occasionally picking one of them off with our rifles.
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