Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1884-10-09
A Fight With a Crocodile.


thing like that"
So spoke bearded, brown-faced
English officer standing upon the bank
OF the Upper Nile. close to tho Arab
village of Shendy, midway between
Berber and Khartoum.
Certainly it was .'queer craft" and
he might well be glad that he had not
got TO make 4 long voyage in il. Itwas
big, clumsy, ilat-bottomed barge, al
most rs broad as it was long, and
steered by gaunt, half-clad Arab
with something that looked very much
like an oyergrown wooden shovel. But
the rigging was more curious still. A
tall, bony native, standing bolt upright
upon the deck, served as mast. while
the piece of coarse canvas which he
held up at full length in his out
stretched hands did duty for sail.
This living mast was kept in its place
by two other men, one of whom clasped
it around the waist, while the other
held on its knees with all his might
and main.
10 use living rigging is not always
safe experiment and in this case it
proved very unsafe indeed. A sudden
gust of wind took the sail aback, and
the Arab who was serving as mast for
it, and who had planted his feet upon
the two lower corners Of the canvas.
in order to keep it stretched TO its full
extent, found himself entanoled in il
almost before he knew what had ha,,-
pened. Losing his balance, he Tell
backward, and rolled over the edge Of
the boat into the water, dragging along
with him one of the two men who had
been holding him up.
The other man scrambled back into
the boat almost rs quickly as he had
tumblcd out Oft; but the mast-man was
not so lucky. Ii took him two or three
seconds to oct rid Of the canvas thar
was hampering him, and those two or
three seconds made all the difference.
BY the time he had got clear the ferry
boat had drifted good way down the
stream, the steersman having left his
post and ran forward when he saw his
comrades fall overheard.
This OF itself would have mattercd
little, for every Arab in the Nile valley
can swim like 4 duck. But while the
struggling man was swimming with all
his might toward the boat, and the
steorsman was working the boats head
round TO meet him, new actor sud-
denly appeared on the scene, whose
coming made the affair look much more
serious.
No one had taken any particular no
tice of long black log which was ly-
ing on the edge of n sand-bank little
way out in the stream. But at tho
splash made by the two Arabs as they
plunged overheard, the seeming Loo
made a sudden movement, displaying
as il did so the vast, scaly bulk, grin
ming teeth, and small, cunning, cruel
eye of monstrous crocodilei
The hideOus creature waddled down
into the river so clumsily that any one
who had been watching it would have
been startled by the arrow-like swift
ness GIFTS course the moment it touched
the water. The poor Arab knew only
too we'll what was in store for him,
and made frantic efforts to reach the
boat, which was now close at hand.
But the monster was too quick for him.
Gliding in between him and the APP
preaching barge, it spun around sud
denly and darted right at him, opening
its terrible jaws wide enough TO show
have crushed \ buffalo
But just rs all seemed over, one of
the ferrymen took living leap from
the side OF the boat and came plump
on TO the crocodile's back. There he
stuck like limpet. while the long,
sharp jambeyah dagger in his right
hand dealt stab after stab into the
monsters undefended side. Just behind
the fore-shoulder
Gould the crocodile have spoken. he
would probably have cried out: Foul
play! two against oner' AS il was he
showed his disgust plainly enough by
his savage snortinGs and the furious
iashings OF its ponderous tail, till, liud-
ing that its enemy was not to DC shaken
of lie plunged suddenly under tho
water. Man and beast went down IN
a whirling eddy. the ripples Of which
were dark with blood
a cry Of dismay burst from the crowd
that had gathered upon the bank, rs
they saw the brave Arab disappear.
But all at once the water began 10
heavc and bubble as if some fierce
struggle was going on in the depths
below, and then the Mussulmau' lean,
dark face rose 10 the surface. upon
which, moment later the croeodiles
mighty bulk noated limp and dead.
slain by mortal stab in the throat.
''Alerin, VI habioi"' (Weil done, my
friend) cried the Engiishman, rs the
conqucror struggled ashore. Here
are twenty piastrcs filty cents) for
You. il you can accept the Silt a an
unbclever.
mo matter for that cflendi. (csn-
tleman), replied the Arab, with a grin.
tying up the coins in tho greasy waist
coast which Was his only clothing.
"You may be an unbelieycr, but Your
money is true Mohammedan.