904 DRAWING HIM ASHORE.

was very deep and we durst not venture in, as
neither of us could swim. Quite undecided as to
how we should manage, and filled with disagreeable
misgivings, we followed the motion of the crocodile
with anxious minds. Tortunately a piece of tree
which floated down before it arrived crosswise,
stopped, and arrested the progress of the animal.
Time was thus afforded to consider what was best
to be done.

“We proceeded to cut a long thick liane, which
was to be our harpoon, and having advanced into
the water up to the waist, I cast it over the croco-
dile’s back (which was now again uppermost), and
by this means we drew him to the bank. All at
once his tail commenced lashing our legs! Off we
set at the top of our speed, uttering cries of horror
the while. We fancied that those jaws of eighteen
inches, and armed with sixty-seven long sharp
teeth, were at our heels. At length we stopped.
‘Sure as a gun, said I, ‘he is dangerously
wounded; and these movements of his tail are
either the last convulsions of life, or merely the
agitation of the water, which we set in motion.
This tail, too, was a matter of serious reflection to
me. Report said it was excellent for culinary pur-
poses ; 1t would serve therefore to save, in a very
satisfactory way, our stock of dried and smoked
meat. Having recharged my rifle we returned,