Southern shield., 1855-05-26

lay in a stupor quite unconscious, how long I know not; but many hours, 1 am cer- tain. knew this by the sum- it was going down when I awoke, if 1 may so term the re- covery of my sickened senses. 1 was aroused by strange circumstances was surrounded by dark objects of hideous shapes and hues- reptiles they were. They had been before my eyes for some time, but | had not seen them. 1 had only sort of dreamy consciousness oi their presence; but l heard them at length: my ear was in better tune, and the strange noises they uttered reached my intellect. It seemed like the blowing of great bellows. with now and then note harder and louder, like the roaring of bull This startled me, and I looked up, and bent my eyes upon the ob- ects: they were the forms of the crocodiltdG the giant lizards they were alligators. Huge ones they were, some of them; and many were they in number-a hundred, at least were crawling over the islet before, behind, and on all sides around me- Their long, gaunt jaws and channeIled shouts projecting forward so as almost to touch my body; and their eyes, usually leaden, seemed te glare. 1Ihpelled hJ this new danger, l sprang to my feet, when, recognizing the upright form of man, the reptiles scuttled off, and, plunging hurriedly into the lake, hid their hideous bodies under the water.
 The incident in some measure revived me. 1 saw that 1 was not alone, there was com pany even in the crockodiles, I gradually be- came more myself, and began to reflect with some degree of coolness upon the circumstan- ces that surrounded me-my eyes wandered over the islet; every inch of it came under my glance; every object upon it was scrutlni- zed: the mouted feathers of wild fowl, the pieces of sand, the fresh water muscles (un- ias) strewed upon the beach--all were exam ined. Still the barren answer, no means of escape.
 The islet was but the head of nd-bar, formed by the eddy, perhaps gathered togeth- CT within the year. It was bare of herbage, with the exception of few tufts of grass. There were neither tree nor bush upon it: not stick. A raft, indeed! There was not sui fcient wood to make a raft that would have floated frog. The idea of raft was but briefly entertained, such thought had cer- tainly crossed my brain, but single glance round the islet dispeled it before it had taken shape. paced my prison from end to end; from side to side I walked it over. l tried the waters depth; on all sides sounded it, wading reckessly in; everywhere it deepened rapidly as l advanced. Three lengths of my self from the Islet's edge, and was up to the neck. The huge reptiles swan around, snort ing and blowing: they were bolder in this el- ement. 1 could not have waded safely ashore, even had the water been shallow. To swim it--no--even though Iswam like duck, they would have closed upon me and quartered me before 1 could have made dozen strokes.- Mortified by their demonstrations, l turned back upon dry ground, and paced the islet with dripping garments. l continued walk ing until night, which gathered round me dark and dismal. With night came new voices, the hideous voices of the nocturnal swamp, the qua-qua of the night theron, the screech of the swamp-owl, the cry of the bittern, the el Lux of the great water toad, the tin1lng of the bell-frog, and the chirp of the savan- nah cricket, all fell upon my ear Sounds still harsher and more hideous were heard around me-the splashing of the alligator, and the roaring of his voice; these reminded me that l must not go to sleep. Te sleep! l durst not have slept for single lnstant.- Even when I lay for few minutes motionless, the dark reptiles came crawling round me, so close that I could put forth my hand and touch them.
 k At intervals I sprang to my feet, shouted, swept my gun around, and chased them back to the water, into which they betook them selves with a sudden plunge, but with little semblance of fear At each fresh demonstra- tion on my part they showed less alarm, un- til could no longer drive them, either with shouts or threatening gestures. They only retreated few feet, forming an irregular cir cle round me.
 Thus hemmed in, became frightened in turn. loaded my gun and fredi l killed