The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1883-01-27

strong hempen cords, which slip betweer
the teeth OF the animal and battle all hi:
etf,rts at parting them. And, last of all
Letils carefully cleaned and trimmed his
bull's-eye lantern for all our hunting
was to be what is known as fire hunt
ing and was to be done at night.
At last the sun set, and almost mmed
iatels-for there is little twilight il
those latitudes-came he darkness " hicl
we needed for our work. We ate oul
supper leisurely, however, and waited
until about eight o'clock, SO as to give
all the caters a chance to get out and be
feeding" said the hunter. By that time
1t seemed to me as though all the alliga
tors in the river were not only out,
but in the vicinity of our camp; for the
cormorant and catfish bait had done its
work, and it appeared little short of sui
cIdal to venture out on the water in TIL,
bIackness of the night amongst the mons
tiers that we conld hear splashing, grunt
ing. and occasionally believing like
angry bulls, apparently within few feet
of US, and | confess felt rather scary'
AS l took my seat in the stern sheets OF
the skiff, and with paddle in hand pre-
pared to send her forth into their midst
but with Lefils it was matter of regu-
lar business, and he was so collected and
matter of fact that quickly regained
confidence. He sat in the bow, rifle in
hand, and with the bull eye lantern
fastened by leathern thong to his head.
AS the skitf shot out into the river, under
the strokes of my broad bladed paddle,
she seemed to follow a golden path made
by the narrow CLEAN of light, which was
SO bright and sharply defined that the
darkness was like black walls on either
size.
We went down stream, and had nc
taken n dozen strokes before SHARP
" hist" from the hunter caused to cease
padding, and,fo few seconds our boa,
drifted with the current, as noiselessll
as an autum leaf, down the bright water
path The 81, am of his rifle barrel as
Letils raised it to. his shoulder was fol
lowed by a sharp report, and a tremen-
deus splashing in the water Just ahead
of MS. But tina bullet had done its work
surely. and had crashed into the thick
skull, plump between the eyes. The ali,
gator ga k but with the long slender
shaft OF the harpaon we quickly founo
him. and tie sharp barbed iron wa
driven deep into his scaly body. A
Slig hit effort brought him to the surface
his specific gravity being bltlitt create,
than that of water, and in anothe.
minute the hunter had dexterously lodg
d the ungainly carcass in the boat
Within five minutes attei the firing OF
he rifle shot the harpoon had been DE-
tached from the dead body, and We were
quietly padding up stream in search o.
mother Within an hour two boat.
loads of dead alligators, ten in all. hao
neen killed, secured, and deposited OF
the little bunch Of tussocks, about d
quarter of a mile below our camp, thai
mad been selected as our skinning ground.
Here We pulled them ashore and pilec
them in heap to be operated upon the
next day, or after they had become
thoroughly dead as Lefls said. AL
this time had not seen single alliga
tor until after he had been shot, and wa,
very anxious to shine a pair of eyes
50 after we had piled our gators on thu
tussocks, the bulrs-eye was fastened tt
my head, and with rifle in hand TOOK
nv place in the bow of the boat, anC
Letils took that had occupied in the
stern. AS we pulled out into the stream
I moved my head slowly from side t,
side, as directed by the hunter, and (ol
few minutes saw nothing save the shin
ing pathway among the dark lily pads
Suddenly there flashed out from The
oidChueSs, IlSnG ~Hedu, "hd1 @PPeaio'
two lights shining at a great distance
from US. They were Of dark lurid red
and glowed like dull Goals of fire. was
about to call Letils's attention to them
and ask what they were, when they
moved slightly, and like an electric shock
the knowledge flashed across me that {
huge gator lay directly in our path, no,
more than twenty feet away, and that he
was steadfastly regarding us, without
showing the slightest disposition to move
With hist | arrested the progress Of
the boat, but not until she had driftec
so close to the great motionless brute
that the end of my rifle barrel almost
touched the glowing eyes as | aimed be
tween them and pulled the trigger. The
report was followed by such terrible
lashing Of the water under our bows tina
as the boat was swiftly backed from thu
scene of disturbance she was tosseo
like a eockle-shell, and l experienced tn.
same sensation as when. years before,
had been forced to sit quietly in thu
stern sheets of boat from which keen
dyed lance had just sent monster whal,
INTO his death furry.
Asue lay beyond the sweep of the ter
rible tail, watching the death struggle i"
the huge reptile. Leiils said, di>apprnv
,ngly: That was bad shot. 1"n fire I
to" quick. You didn't kill him half dear
enough" 1t was very evident that ha'
not killed him dead enough;" but hi
motions We're so rapid and the light s.
uncertain that had no chance to com
pete he deadening by an,ther shot, an'
we were forced to wait patiently until 1T
should become exhausted by his strug
giles. He did not attempt to move fro"
the place in which we had found him
b 1t circl run and round, now rails u,
his h, rrld h d high into the air, an6
then lash N { the water into turbid toan
with his powerful tail. This state of af
fairs lasted for ten or fifteen minutes. aht
then the great reptile sank cut Of sigh
aud a lew ,ippl"s rnlv marked the Nren'
~, ;s-rf,iir - n n't,tt,,n
VI, r,p't 4.t.,fs. ~ ~. r,f3. - g, ..
hig.' said the hunter as he picked up III
harpoou. and we again exchanged places
A few minu.es careful feeling among th'
bonnet roots. and then the barbed iror
was driven downward with the full fore,
of the sinewy arm, and as backed th'
Loaf. Lefils seized his rifle. At the sam.
instant there was rush through thu
water, and by the light of the bulls eye
which still remained on my head. I had ;
vision of wide omen laws and pleamine