CHAPTER VII. 



WATER-LIZARDS AND THEIR ILK. 



"Nay, good my lord, be not afraid." 



King Richard III. 



" THERE are lots of Water-lizards over in the 

 canon in the other creek. They 're red. I go 

 over there sometimes, and may be I '11 bring you 

 some." 



This is the substance of a generous-sounding 

 speech made to me by a lad, but his promise was 

 never fulfilled. The brook and I heard it, but 

 the brook was better than the boy. Either be- 

 fore or after this, I drew my first Water-lizard 

 from these shallows. 



A yellowish beastie he was, about two and 

 three fourths inches long, with a black line run- 

 ning down the middle length of each side. His 

 'tail was flattened and spotted with black. He 

 had both anterior and posterior pairs of feet, the 

 forward pair being four-toed, and the hinder pair 

 five-toed. Dark eyes were his, and there were 

 three pairs of reddish-yellow gills. These were 

 very noticeable, standing up like feathers on either 

 side of his head just in front of his legs. These 

 gills gave him a very peculiar look, reminding one 



