Millheim Journal. [volume] (Millheim, Pa.) 1876-1984, 1879-08-14
Our Crocodile Hunter.

A young Naturalist gives the follow
ing account Of hunting the crocodile
on the Orinoco: We landed upon a
huge sand. bar, and, taking our guns,
hatchet, field-glass, etc., started across
the green bank that we saw on the 9TH
er side of the bar. Before We got across
we christened that bar the ''Great Des-
ert." AS we neared the opposite side
we saw that, as we had suspected there
was little body OF water between the
sand bar and the shore. Very soon we
sighted fine crocodile, basking in the
rays of the midday sun, near the edge
of the water. There was not bush
nor blade of grass to afford us cover,
bat quickly making ready and throwing
ourselves upon our faces, began worm
ing our way toward the great reptile as
fast as possible, taking advantage of
some little ridges and depressions in
the sand. But he was too smart for US,
and before we were within goodFritle
shot he quickly slid into the water and
disappeared. just then we came in
sight of another and larger crocodile
much nearer to us, so near that we
wondered why he had not taken alarm
and fed. We at once tnrned our atten-
tion to him, and began creeping up,
until we thought We could afford to
fire. We lay fiat upon che sand, made
ready, Chet softly remarked:
'One, two, three
And our rifles spoke together. With
out waiting to reload, l left my gun ly-
ing on the ground and ran full tilt to
grab the tail of the reptile and prevent
his getting into the water, for when n
crocodile is badly wounded it is possi-
Bile for man to hold it from getting
away. merely noticed that 1t was a
large old fellow and stopped to grab his
tail-when suddenly his tail was whiSk-
out Of my grasp, and the crocodile
quickly swung round with his head to-
ward me. He raised his head high up,
opened his jaws TO their widest and ut
tered loud hoarse kind of snarl. 1t
was the first time crocodile or alli-
gator had turned upon me, and | was
very much taken by surprise. l left
the vicinity of those jaws as quickly as
possible, and got around TO the tail.
Again the crocodile swung around on
his tail and hind legs and faced me
with his jaws open and still uttering
that horrible, angry snarl. yelled to
!.
Bring the hatchetp
L quite forgot that he had rifle.
Again l ran round to the tail of the
reptile, and again he turned upon me-
Bring the hdtchet"
Shut your mouth! l won't do it =
baw!ed out Chet, runningup and SHOW
ing in a cartridge as he ran. kept
the crocodile busy turning round until
Chet was ready TO fire, wnen he sent a
ball through its neck-bone and ended
its troubles in a moment. 1t was a fine
male specimen, length ten feet eight
inches, and from the exceeding rough
ness of its exterior, very thick skin and
blunt claws We were led to believe that
he was very old, and had probably at
tanned his full growth. We efound that
one ball had struck him in the neck,
but missing the cervical vertebra, and
the other entered his shoulder. Why
he did not take to the water when he
was so well able to do so was mystery
10 us.
We removed the skin as quick as pos
sible, folded it into a bundle and took
turn about, carrying it across the desert
to the canoe. Then we thought that
our dOgged perseverance in crossing
the river in the morning had been re-
warded. On returning j. gener-
Ously offered to take the front seat, and
before we had got across he remarked
that it was harder to take it easy than
he thought. After tOiling across an
other sand bar with that skin on our
backs we dumped it into Captain Ric-
els boat and went sailing up to Bolivar
with tired arms and legs and fair
wind.