ng about him and staring up at his masters, as if asking
what they had done with the reptile he had chased.

"It was not a crocodile, Jack, but a large water-lizard," said Mr
Rogers.

"Plenty of crocodiles soon," said the General, "big as three of me."

He marked off a space of about twenty feet upon the ground, to show the
length the reptiles of which he spoke, and then roughly marked out their
shape.

"Not here," he said; "over there." And he pointed to the north.

"Here's another," cried Dick.

And this time it was Pompey and Caesar who had hunted out a reptile,
which hissed, and snapped, and fought vigorously for a few moments when
driven to bay, but its defiance was short lived.

While the engagement went on, the reptile looked dragon-like in aspect,
with its ruffled and inflated throat, serrated back, and writhing tail;
but in a very short time the dogs had obtained the mastery, and the
creature was examined, proving to be a kind of iguana, nearly six feet
in length, a great deal of which, however, was the attenuated tail.

The cracks and rifts in the hot bare stones as they climbed higher
seemed to swarm with lizards of all kinds, ready to dart into their
holes upon the approach of the dogs, while several times over the two
Zulu boys came running back, beckoning to Dick and Jack to go and see
some snake basking, twisted in a knot in some sunny spot.

Upon one of these occasions Jack was so struck by the peculiar swollen,
short appearance of the little serpent that he ran back and hailed his
father, who came up just as Coffee and Chicory were assuring Dick that
if he did what he had proposed to do, namely, taken up the short, thick
serpent, he would never have gone hunting any more.

In fact as soon as Jack had gone the serpent moved slightly, and wishing
his father to see it, and eager to stop its escape, Dick had attempted
to pick it up, when Coffee and Chicory threw themselves upon him, and a
short struggle ensued, which made Dick very angry, and he was very
nearly coming to blows.

"The boys are quite right," said Mr Rogers sharply. "Dick, you ought
to have known better. Don't you know what that thick, short serpent
is?"

"No, father," said Dick, in an injured tone.

"Then you ought to know, my boy, for I have described it to you when
talking about the reptiles of this part of the world. What do you say
it is, Jack?"

"I don't know, father; I'm not sure," replied Jack, glancing at Dick,
a