In the first quotation, the sleeping man is compared through the use of a simile to a corpse "ready for the graveyard." Literally, his arms are crossed over his chest in the way that corpses are traditionally arranged in their coffins; the language also would suggest that a person is lying very straight, on their back with legs outstretched.

In the second quotation, there are two examples of figurative language in the form of two similes. Bud is crouched "like a cat burglar." This suggests that he is low to the ground, in a slightly suspicious or covert posture, like someone hiding--indeed, like a man who is burgling a house and does not want to be caught. Later he moves "quick as a rabbit," suggesting speed but also maintaining the sense of someone crouching or low to the ground.

This use of language is colorful, imaginative in a fairly childlike way. The similes are not original, but they vividly illuminate the situation and help the speaker convey a sense of place and motion.