De faire h nous deux. — To go partners

14. Et s* appuyant . . . par. — And leaning against the rock, soon became so undistinguishable from the stone on account of.

15. Qui avait le vent mauvais. — Who did not scent well; literally, who had a poor scent.

16. Appuyé'. — Resting; literally, leaning. Appuyer being an active transitive verb, its présent part, expresses not a state or condition, but an action, the direct object of which must be mentioned : thus, appuyant l'échelle contre le mur, leaning the ladder against the wall ; or, as in note 24 : s' appuyant contre le roc, leaning (himself) against the rock. On the contrary, appuyé or étant appuyé (see Grammar, p. 370, § 3) hère expresses the state or condition of Francis ; he, being leaned, that is supported, upon his knees and left hand, saw, &c. The same is the case with ail those reflective verbs of which the second pronoun is the object ; as, en s'asseyant, while in the act of taking a seat, while sitting down ; but assis dans un fauteuil, seated, or while sitting, in an arm-chair.

17. Deux secondes encore, et il venait se heurter contre le canon de la carabine du voisin. — Two seconds more, and he would bave run against the barrel of the neighbor's rifle, not lie was about to run against, or on the point of running against. See Grammar, p. 316, § 9. Tins peculiar use of the imperfect is common to French and Latin. Compare the analogous phrases : Si j'avais dit un mot, on vous donnait la mort, if I had said a word, you would hâve been put to death CVoltaireJ ; and Si per L. Metellum licitum esset, maires illorum, uxores, sorores veniebant (Cic. Verr. 5, 49^). A similar construction is sometimes possible in English, as shown in the next paragraph ; il était perdu, lie was lost.