'Zou, zou,* he kept saying, for Jan was rather
inclined to lag, and Christophe was thinking about
the lizards.
And sure enough, when they reached the ruin,
every other grey stone seemed to hold a slim body
which ended in a pair of very bright eyes — in eyes that
were not only bright but observant, so that suddenly
there were no lizards at all.
clt would seem that your friends have departed/
said Jan, laughing.
Christophe sat down with his back against a rock,
while Jan stretched himself on the ground beside him;
then Mireio discovered a patch of shade in which
she lay alternately licking her sores, hunting her ticks,
and panting loudly; but after a little she dropped off
to sleep:
'That is good,5 said Christophe, cwe will now sit
quite still.'
And Jan did his level best to obey him.
One by one the lizards, hearing no noise, began to
come out of the holes and crannies; extending them-
selves upon the stones and lifting their little reptilian
heads to warm the skin of their throats in the sunshine.
Then Christophe uttered a very small sound — it was
like a soft but compelling summons — and a lizard
turned itself quickly about, fixing inquisitive eyes
upon him; so once more he made that very small
sound, and the creature, still looking at him, moved
nearer,
*I am your friend, you know. . . .' Ghristophe told
it.
But just then Mireio was disturbed by the flies, and
she started an incessant and irritable snapping, while
Jan suddenly shuffled his restless feet because they so
longed to be scaling the' ramparts; and the lizard,
feeling itself betrayed, mistrustfully darted back into
a cranny.
127