Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1880-07-22
guides declared that it would

not die until the setting OF the
sun. At intervals the cayman
roared like a Central Park lion.
Toward night / went to the
swamp to mark the roosts of
wild turkeys. The day was op-
pressively hot. / was returning
to camp long after dark, when
l found myself on the burnt sa-
wanna. To my surprise the whole
savanna seemed alive and NOV
ing. Nearly worn out with ex-
haustion, l tancied that my head
was reeling, sure sign of ma
laria fever. Thephenomenon was
quickly explained. A thousand
buzzards were in camp near the
great alligator, awaiting the
light of day to secure their prey.
A year afterward l found the
skeleton of this saurian, and
knocked out its teeth. The sa-
wanna was then covered with
water a foot deep.
In the following winter L was
shooting plumed herons on the
great savannas at the head Of
Indian River. My guide was
the weH-known Judge Connor,
once a Methodist clergyman.
One morning, whileiriding over
the vast prairie on horse
back, we met an alligator longer
than the moral law. "Shoot
him." said the Judge.
ooh, no" I replied; 81 don't
want to kill him. The report
of the gun will scare up every
heron within mile, and I shall
get no plumes."
'"But Lord blast my buttons"
said the Judge, ''he eats my
hogs and the young calves on
the range. Shoot him.
"No," 1 answered; "I've come
twenty miles for plumes, and /
don't intend to go back without
them" @
"Well," said Connor, "you're
the first Yankee [ ever saw who
won't pull trigger on gator"
"I'll take a look at him any
how" I said, as I hitched my
horse to a palmetto midway be-
tween two creeks. The grass
was high and rank. AS l walk
ed toward the reptile he raised
himself on his four legs, opened
his jaws, and puffed out his
throat. like a bullfrog, and made
a noise like the humming of a
buzz-saw. I stopped ten feet "a
way, and stamped and shouted.
The Judge sat upon his horse,
watching the proceedings. The
alligator did not quail. On the
contrary, he squatted close to
the ground, and began to creep
toward me as cat would creep
toward a mouse. 4 Walking back
to the palmetto, | gathered five
or six of it's huge dried fans,
held them toward my body,
struck a match, and set them a.
blaze. The ugly monster watch
ed me like a dragon. | held the
fans down, hiding the blaze, and
marched toward him. His huge
mouth was open, and looked like
a anewly bricked tunnel. Within
reach, l suddenly raised the
fans, and thrust the blazing
mass in his throat. He closed
his ponderous jaws, turned tail,
and ran. Lighting a fresh fan,
l ran around him, setting the
coarse, dry grass of the savanna
on fire. He was encircled with
flames He raised his body,
gazed at the fire with bloodshot
eyes, and thenashuf1ed himself
in the wet sand, and calmly a
waited the result. There was a
fair breeze from the northeast.
In three minutes the fire had
swept over him, burying him in
the blackened grass. He re-
mained as he had planted HIM
self, Iwent through the smoke
and touched him with the bar
rels of the gun, but he did not
move. He seemed dazed. Posi-
bly, he had tainted. l remount-
ed the horse and we rode off. A
hundred yards away we looked
back. The monster had recov-
cred, and was travelling leisurely
over the smoking savanna to-
ward,a little stream that pours
into the head Of Indian River.
/ Two years before this | had
visited Lake Worth, twelve miles
below Jupiter Light. At that
time Charles Moore, a jolly
beachcomber, was the only per-
son living on the shore of the
lake. We went through an arm
.tof the Everglades, and deposited
lour camp equipage and provis'
lions on the hard sand at the
northern end Of the lake. The
sand was fringed with huge rush
les. We had hauled our boat O.
ver the strip of sand separating
the waters of the lake from th'
Everglades, intending to rul
Idown TO Moorc's cabin befoF'
II u 7. .t- Fsyt- l.1.raxyn1.