There was little else standing but the naked trunks, which rose like a column to the height of sixty feet.

The branches had all been swept away by the wind, with one exception; and this was a long limb that stretched diagonally upward from the top of the trunk.

The limb, although crooked and forking in several places, was not very thick.

It was without twigs or leaves, being of course, like the tree itself, dead.
Whilst Basil and Francois were preparing their guns, the squirrel had made a second rush to the top of this limb; where it sat itself down in a fork, and appeared to contemplate the setting sun.

No better mark could have been desired for a shot, provided they could get near enough; and that they were likely to do, for the little animal did not appear to regard the presence either of them or their horses--thus showing that it had never been hunted.