182 AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



In the Lado Enclave country there lives a 

 lizard-like animal known as a monitor. These 

 lizards sometimes attain a length of four feet. 

 They are perfectly harmless so far as being 

 poisonous is concerned. Although one might 

 give a person a bad bite if he attempted to pick 

 it up ; at the slightest sign of danger they scurry 

 into the bushes or into the water, near which 

 they are usually found. They live in holes in 

 the ground and feed upon rats, mice, snakes, 

 other lizards, birds, and crocodile's eggs. 



While digging a pit for garbage our porters 

 unearthed what we took to be a monitor's nest, 

 some three feet under ground. It contained 

 several leathery-skinned, dirty white eggs. 



One afternoon I surprised a monitor looting a 

 crocodile's nest. The nest was on a high, sandy 

 bank close to the Nile, and the eggs had been 

 covered with dirt and rubbish by the old croco- 

 dile. On seeing me the monitor scurried over 

 the bank and into the river. I hid in some 

 brush near by and waited for the creature to 

 return. Within fifteen minutes I heard it 

 crawling out of the water and over the dry dead 

 rushes, and then it poked its head above the 

 steep bank and looked about. At first it acted 



