upted their labours to dart suddenly into their holes
and out again--for the purpose, he conjectured, of "havin' a drop o'
summat to wet their whistles,"--Disco thrust the cutty into his vest
pocket, and walked a little further out on the flat in the hope of
discovering some new objects of interest. Nor was he disappointed.
Besides finding that the pools left by the tide swarmed with varieties
of little fish--many of them being "coorious,"--he was fortunate enough
to witness a most surprising combat.

It happened thus:--Perceiving, a little to his right, some small
creature hopping about on the sand near to a little pool, he turned
aside to observe it more closely. On his drawing near, the creature
jumped into the pool. Disco advanced to the edge, gazed intently into
the water, and saw nothing except his own reflected image at the bottom.
Presently the creature reappeared. It was a small fish--a familiar
fish, too--which he had known in the pools of his native land by the
name of blenny. As the blenny appeared to wish to approach the edge of
the pool, Disco retired, and, placing a hand on each knee, stooped, in
order to make himself as small as possible. He failed, the diminution
in his height being fully counterbalanced by the latitudinal extension
of his elbows!

Presently the blenny put its head out of the water, and looked about.
We speak advisedly. The blenny is altogether a singular, an exceptional
fish. It can, and does, look sidewise, upwards and downwards, with its
protruding eyes, as knowingly, and with as much vivacity, as if it were
a human being. This power in a fish has something of the same awesome
effect on an observer that might possibly result were a horse to raise
its head and smile at him.

Seeing that the coast was clear, for Disco stood as motionless as a
mangrove tree, blenny hopped upon the dry land. The African blenny is a
sort of amphibious animal, living nearly as much out of the water as in
it. Indeed its busiest time, we are told, [_See Dr Livingstone's
Zambesi and its Tributaries_, page 843.] is at low water, when, by means
of its pectoral fins it crawls out on the sand and raises itself into
something of a standing attitude, with its bright eyes keeping a sharp
look-out for the light-coloured flies on which it feeds.

For several seconds Disco gazed at the fish, and the fish gazed around,
even turning its head a little, as well as its eyes, on this side and on
that. Present