THE FIRST CRASSICORNIS. 19 



In this costume we wooed the mermaids. We brought 

 a crowbar, to turn over the heavy stones which could 

 not otherwise be moved, but which are worth moving, 

 because it is under such that rarities will be hidden. 

 It is nearly half-past eleven, and the tide will have 

 quite run out in half an hour or more. We ought to 

 have been here a little sooner, but there is still nearly 

 two hours' opportunity before us — so, to work ! Over 

 these jago-ed rocks we spring, stride, scramble, and 

 crawl. Whew ! there was an escape ! This fucus is 

 so slippery and treacherous : had it not been for the 

 well-nailed soles, I should have perhaps tumbled into 

 that gully, — and as the height is six or seven feet, the 

 fall could not have been soft. The mere suggestion 

 has made me a little nervous, and I begin to doubt 

 whether these cockney legs were meant for such pro- 

 gression, and whether the right man is here in the right 

 place, — when the shout of ''Here's a Crass I" banishes 

 all reflections, and in a flurry of scrambling I clamber 

 to the spot. 



"Where? Let me see it." 



" In that pool." 



" I see nothing." 



" That is because I disturbed him. He has drawn 

 in his tentacles, and covered himself with a coating of 

 stones, mud, and mucus ; but take off your coat, tuck 

 up your sleeve, and you will feel him at the bottom. 

 Got him?" 



"I feel nothing but a fleshy lump of something, with 

 small stones on it." 



" That's the gentleman ! " 



