"They act with as much judgment as human beings," said Mr. Carter, as he carefully steered through the flock. The shepherd, who had let the dogs do the work, was a fine-looking fellow, in a long grayish white cloak, striped with colour, which made him look like a shepherd of Bible times. In the field near by stood his house, a kind of big box on wheels, just large enough for him and his dogs to sleep in, which he could move about where he liked. They were now running down a long, steep hill into La Roche-Guyon. "Look!" cried Germaine, "there are chimneys and stovepipes coming up out of the ground; is it not funny?" "Those are the cave-dwellings," explained Mr. Carter. "These people have cut their houses in the side of the cliff; you can see the openings to them, often in tiers one above the other, and those chimneys you see come from the houses. There are many such dwellings all over the country, especially along the other great river of France, the Loire." "Are people living in them?" asked Jean, "and how can they see in them? Are they not dark and gloomy?" "Well, as you can see, there is always a door and often one or two windows. The poorer people do sometimes live in them, though not so much as they used to many years ago when the French peasant was much worse off than he is now. The working people are now building and owning their own little homes, and these caves are being used more for storehouses and, in the grape districts, for cellars in which to store the wine-crop." "I should not like to live in the ground like that," declared Jean. They only stopped long enough in the town to look at the big château, which to-day belongs to the noble French family in whose possession it has been for hundreds of years. This splendid building was very odd, for the back had been built into the high chalk-cliff which towers above it. "I can see the towers of a big church in the distance," said Germaine, presently. "That is the church of Mantes, and we shall soon be in the town," replied Mr. Carter. "It is said that this church was built by William the Conqueror to replace one that was destroyed while he was besieging the town, and it was at this same siege that he was mortally wounded." After lunch and a walk around the town, they started for home over a fine broad road shaded with trees. "This is a 'National Road,'" said Jean. "Papa told me about these great highways laid out all over France by the great Napoleon, so that soldiers could be moved easily from one part of the country to another." "Oh, look! What is that big gray thing in the sky just above that clump of trees? It looks like a fish," suddenly cried Marie, as they were passing a small village lying just off the highroad.