But while the shrews can get around so much faster above ground the moles are the most remarkable travellers _under_ ground. The mole's paws, you notice, are turned outward, as one's hands are when swimming. In fact he does almost swim through the soft, loose soil--so fast does he move along! His two shovels, with the muscles that work them, weigh as much as all the rest of his body. Why, he has a chest like an athlete! He pierces the soil with his muzzle and then clears it away with his paws. His skull is shaped like a wedge. He has a strong, boring snout and a smooth, round body. This snout, by the way, has a bone near the tip. You see how handy that would come in, don't you? At the same time, although it's so hard--this snout of his--it's very sensitive, like the fingers of the blind; for Mr. Mole must always be feeling his way along in the dark, you know. [Illustration: SECTION OF MR. MOLE'S CASTLE This is a cross-section of a mole-hill, showing the central chamber and the rooms leading into it.] The kind of moles you find in Europe live in what seem to be little earthen fortresses, and the tops, sticking above ground, make hillocks. In each of these little forts there is a central chamber; then outside of this, running all the way around, are two galleries, one above the other. The upper gallery has several openings into the central chamber. The galleries are connected by two straight up-and-down shafts. From the lower galleries several passages, usually from eight to ten, lead away to where the moles go out to feed; and if there is a body of water near by--a pond or a creek, say--there's a special tunnel leading to that. Mr. Mole works hard and he sleeps hard. The big middle room in his home is the bedchamber of Mr. Mole and his family. Usually he sleeps soundly all night, but occasionally, on fine Summer nights, he comes out and enjoys the air. [Illustration: THE COMMON AND THE STAR-NOSED MOLE] You'd think he'd get awfully dirty, wouldn't you, boring his way along in the ground all the time? But he doesn't. His hair is always as spick and span as if he'd just come out of the barber-shop. Do you know why? It's because he wears his hair pompadoured. It grows straight out from the skin. So you see he can go backward and forward--as he is obliged to do constantly in the day's work--without mussing it up at all. If it lay down, like yours or like pussy-cat's, it would get into an _awful_ mess! In France the children call Mr. Mole "The Little Gentleman in the Velvet Coat." II. FOUR-FOOTED FARMERS THAT WEAR ARMOR