MARTIN RATTLER. 133

they travel at night, fix fire-flies to their feet, and so
have good lamps to their path.”

While Barney was expressing his surprise at this
information in very racy language, they entered the
village, and mingling with the throng of holiday-
keepers, followed the stream towards the grand
square.

The church, which seemed to be a centre of attrac-
tion, and was brilliantly illuminated, was a neat
wooden building with two towers. The streets of the
village were broad and straggling; and so luxuriant
was the vegetation, and so lazy the nature of the in-
habitants, that it seemed as if the whole place were
overgrown with gigantic weeds. Shrubs and creeping-
plants grew in the neglected gardens, climbed over the
palings, and straggled about the streets. Plants grew
on the tops of the houses, ferns peeped out under the
eaves; and, in short, on looking at it, one had the
feeling that ere long the whole place, people and all,
must be smothered in superabundant vegetation !

The houses were all painted white or yellow, with
the doors and windows bright green—just like
grown-up toys; and sounds of revelry, with now and
then the noise of disputation, issued from many of
them.

It is impossible to describe minutely the appearance