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 to see in front, on both sides, and behind at one and the same time. It was very tiring. I felt certain the lamp was going out. It threw such queer shadows. There was one of those dreadful green lizards on the wall just above it, waiting with that deadly still look they have to pounce upon a poor harmless fly just below. How do lizards manage to stand on the wall heads down in the way they do? The very sight of it seemed to fascinate that fly. When he had got wings why didn't he fly away? I took a sudden interest in that fly. I began to feel that I should be rather like it if anything were to happen to me just then. That fly, I guess, was just about as paralysed as I should be if I saw anything huge looming over me. I waited kind of breathless, peering through the mosquito-net. I could see the lizard's throat palpitating in a dreadful sort of way, as if he smacked his lips in anticipation of the coming dainty. I suppose it wasn't really long, but it seemed ages that they stood like that. The fly never moved, and the lizard seemed to gloat over it and prolong its agony. Then it was all over in a flash. It was like a conjuring trick. The lizard was a few inches lower down on the wall, and the fly had disappeared. That was all.

After that I lay down again sadly, and counted sheep going in and out of each of the eighteen doors. If only I could go to sleep and not wake up till it was light! How horribly still it was! But I went on steadily counting sheep. I had twelve of them, and I made them go in and out of every