Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-08-04
Fun In Florida.

was great dIouth, and the savannas and
swamps were dry. Scores of alligator:
paraded the dry savannas in search oi
water. One day Capt Frank Sans anC
Tom Murray, two well-known guides, rode
past the encampment. They were looking
for sour orange stumps, with the attention
Of transplanting and grating them. A
hundred yards from camp they reined II
their horses on burnt savanna, and began
to shout Snatching double-barrel gun,
ran out on the savanna Their horses wert
prancing around an enormous bull alligator
who had crawled out of the dry swamp,
and who was headed for the Hillsborougl
river. He was confused by the shouts OF
the guides and the prancing of their horses,
and | approached him unseen Stealing
behind him | ran a long palmetto splinter
in his eye. He turned lumberingly ovel
the blackened stubble, and the guides struck
at him with cowhldes. Driven to weari.
ness, he crouched chose to the ground,
pulled out his throat, opened his cavernous
mouth, and made noise like the rushing
of wind. A moment afterward | dis
charged load of buckshot into each eye.
The monster shuddered and stretched him.
self in the agonies Of death. Capt Sans
dismounted and buried his axe in the rep
tiles tail. The vertebra was severed, and
he was no longer dangerous, although there
was still life in the tail. 1t moved slowly
and uneasily, like the tail of wounded
snake, and the guides declared that it would
not die until the setting of the sun. Al
intervals the cayman roared like Central
Park lion. Toward night | went to the
swamp TO mark the roosts of wild turkeds.
The day was oppressively hot. | was
returning towards camp long after dark,
when | found myself upon the burnt savan-
ma. To my surprise, the whole savanna
seemed a i've and moving. Nearly worn
out with exhaustion, l fancied that my
head was reeling, a sure sign of malarial
fever. The phenomenon was quickly ex-
planned. A thousand buZzards were in the
camp near the great alligator, awaiting the
light Of day to secure their prey. A year
afterward | found the skeleton of this
saurian, and knobked out its teeth. The
savanna was then covered with water a
foot deep.
In the following winter | was shooting
plumed herons on the great savaunas at the
head of Indian river. My guide was the
well-known Judge Connor, once a MethO-
dist clergyman. One morning, while rid
ing over the vast prairie on horseback, we
met an alligator longe than the moral law.
''ShOot him." said the Judgs.
'Oh, no." l replied; 81 don't want to
kill him. The report of the gun will scare
up every heron within mile, and / shall
get no plumes."
''But, Lord blast my buttons" " said the
judge, ''he eats my hogs and young calves
on the range. Shoot him.
''No," answered; ''I've come twenty
miles for plumes, and don't intend 20 90
back without them"
"Well, ;" SAID Connor, ssyou're the first
Yankee | ever saw who won't pull trigger
on gator"
''I'll take a look at him. anyhow" |
said, as hitched my horse to palmetto
midway between two creeks. The grass
was kigh and rank. As | walked toward
the reptile he raised himself on his four
legs, opened his jaws, pulled out his throat
like bullfrog, and made noise like the
humming of a buzz-saw. | stopped ten
feet away, and stamped and shouted. The
judge sat upon his horse watching the pro-
ceedings. The alligator did not quail.
On the contrary, he squatted close TO the
ground, and began to creep towards me as
cat would creep toward a mouse. Walk
ing back to the palmetto, gathered five OF
six of its huge dried fans, held them toward
my body, struck match, and set them
ablaze. The ugly monster watched me
like dragon. held the fans down, hid
ing the blaze, and marched toward him.
His huge mouth was open, and looked like
a newly bricked tunnel. Within reach, |
suddenly raised the fans, and thrust the
blazing mass in his throat. He closed
his ponderous jaws, turned pale, and ran.
Lighting fresh fan, l ran around him,
setting the coarse, dry grass of the savanna
ON fire. He was encIrcled with flamss.
He raised his body, gazed at the fire with
bloodshot eyes, and then shuffled himself
into the wet sand, and calmly awaited the
result. There was fair breeze from the
northeast. In three minutes the fire had
swept over him, buryng him in the black
ened grass. He remained as he had planted
himself. went through the smoke and
touched him with the barrel of the gun,
but he did not move. He seemed dazed
possibly he had tainted. l remounted the
horse, and we rode off. A hundred yards
away we looked back. The monster had
recovered, and was travelling leisurely over
the smoking savanna toward 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 beach
comber, was the only person living on the
shore of the lake. We went through an
arm of the everglades, and deposited our
camp equipage and provisions on the hard
sand at the northern enl of the lake. The
sand was fringed with huge rushes. We
had hauled our boat over the strip of sand
separating the waters of the lake from the
everglades, intending to run down to
Moore's cabin before sundown. The wind,
however, died away, and we concluded to
camp for the night. We found a cleared
spot in the scrub hundred feet back from
the shore. Ridge poles and crotched posts
indicated that it was favorite camping
ground for the Seminoles. On returning
to the beach fondd a twelve-foot alligator
crawling toward our bag of pork. A score
of companions were anchored off the
rushes, and one or two were following in
his wake On hearing my footsteps the
old fellow turned and faced me. Our guns
Law on a chest within three feet of him and
we were cut off from our base of supplies.
Moore and Hammond, Pennsylvania,
who had preempted land on the lake,
ioined me. We shouted and heaved ridge
poles at the savage scoundrel, but it was
no 90. He held the pass and his compan-
ions were moving on the pork. Something
must be done or we would be lett without
provisions My eyes fell on bed of dried
palmettoes that had been used by the Indi-
ans. To gather and set them ablaze was
the work of few seconds. With the fam
ing mass we advanced on the great lizards.
In the light of the blaze they retreated to
the lake. We suspended the bag Of pork
from a tree that hung ever the bank, amp
in the morning the sand looked as though
rebel brigade had been throwing up
trenches
The inlet connecting the lake with the
ocean has been closed by bank of sand
thrown up in an easterly hurricane. On
this bank / encamped for week. Schools
of spot ed bass, snappers, groupers, croakers
4 l.. IL