THE CROWS. 



59 



also took in the situation, and, wheeling about, made for the 

 nearest trees. " Not so fast," quoth one of the crows, and 

 with three sidelong hops, caught the tip of its tail and 

 pulled it back again. Then the lizard reddened to the ears 

 with offended dignity, and swelling like the frog in the fable, 

 squared up for a fight ; for lizards are no cowards. But the 

 crows had not the least intention of fighting. They re- 

 mained as cool as cucumbers and merely took up positions 

 on opposite sides of the lizard. The advantage of this 

 formation was that, if it presented its front to the one, it had 

 to present its tail to the other, and so, as often as it charged, 

 it was quietly replaced on the spot from which it started. 

 Now, to be continually making valiant rushes forward and 

 continually getting pulled back by your tail must be very 

 discouraging, and after half an hour or so the lizard was 

 evidently quite sick of the situation. But as its spirits sank 

 the crows' spirits rose. Their familiarities grew more and 

 more gross, they pulled it about, poked it in the ribs, cawed 

 in its very face and finally turned it over on its back, with 

 its white breast towards the sky, and were preparing to 

 carve it, when suddenly the squirrel gave a shrill warning, 

 a panic seized the hens, and the two miscreants had just 

 time to dart aside, one this way and one that, as a kite, with 



52 



