156 THE ARCTURUS ADVENTURE 



secured for examination, and the disease diagnosed 

 as conjunctivitis. How this was ever contracted by 

 Galapagos sea-lions no one has explained. 



In fiction certain conventions are always ob- 

 served by castaways upon a desert island. The 

 fij'st thing they do is to make a circuit of its shores, 

 attaching names to various bits of geography as 

 they go. Wishing to do the thing according to the 

 best traditions, Betty and I set off to explore the 

 coast-line. The Director was just visible in a tan- 

 gle of scrub half-way up the cliff, and from his im- 

 mobilit}'' we knew he was watching some creature, 

 probably a nesting bird. At such moments in the 

 life of a naturalist, the advent of spectators is sel- 

 dom hailed with enthusiasm, so we discreetly left 

 him to his observations. A few steps beyond the 

 boulder beach brought us to a steep rock slide, 

 worn glassy smooth by the sea-lions that had glis- 

 saded down its slope. Descent was easy, merely 

 an imitation of the sea-lions. We landed at the foot 

 of a cliff, where a big black lizard was spread- 

 eagled against the lava, looking like a skin pegged 

 out to dry in the sun. Our somewhat hilarious ar- 

 rival disturbed him and he straddled up the face 

 of the cliff, clinging to invisible projections with 

 strong curved claws. Just to prove that we claw- 

 less beings were not wholly incapable of acrobatics, 

 we swarmed after him and caught him by his thick, 

 serrated tail. Once captured, he hung limply in 

 our hands, resigned to fate, and even when replaced 

 on the cliff, he remained quiescent as though in- 

 credulous of his good fortune. 



