The daily Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1878-1???, 1884-09-19
A Fight With a Crocodile.

thing like that.
So spoke bearded, brown-faced
English officer standing upon the bank
OF Me Upper Nile, close to the Arab
Village of Shendy. midway between
Berber and Khartoum.
Certainly it was a "queer craft" and
he might we'll be glad that he had not
got to make long voyage in it. twas
big, clumsy. flat-bottomed barge, al
most as broad as it was long, and
steered by gaunt half-clad Arab
with something that looked very much
like an overgrown wooden shovel. But
the rigging was more curious still. A
tall, bony native, standing bolt upright
upon the deck, served as mast, wile
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
1t around the waist, while the other
held on its knees with all his might
and main.
To use living rigging is not always a
safe experiment and in this case il
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 entangled in it
almost before he knew what had hap
pened. Losing his balance, he fell
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 as quickly as he had
tumbled out Of it; but the mast-man was
not so lucky. 1t took him two or three
seconds to get rid Of the canvas that
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 run forward when he saw his
comrades fall overheard.
This OF itself would have mattered
little. for every Arab in the Nile valley
can swim like duck. But while the
struggling man was swimming with all
his might toward the boat, and the
steersman 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 a long black log which was ly-
ing on the edge of a sand-bank little
way out in the stream. But at the
splash made by the two Arabs as they
plunged overheard, the seeming log
made sudden movement, displaying
as it did SO the vast, scaly bulk, grin
ming teeth, and small, cunning, cruel
eye OF monstrous crocodile!
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 ofits course the moment it touched
the water. The poor Arab knew only
too well 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 ap-
proaching barge, it spun around sud-
denly and darted right at him, opening
its terrible jaws wide enough to show
two ranges Of spiky teeth that might
have crushed buffalo.
But just as all seemed over, ono OF
the ferrymen took flying 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 RICH,
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: "Fou.
play! two against one!" As it was he
showed his disgust plainly enough by
his savage snortings and the furiou:
lashiEgs of its ponderous tail, till, find.
ing that its enemy was not TO be shaken
of, he plunged suddenly under the
water. Man and beast went down in
a whirling eddy. the ripples of which
we're dark with blood.
A cry of dismay burst from the crowd
that had gathered upon the bank, as
they saw the brave Arab disappear.
But all at once the water began to
heave and bubble rs if some fierce
struggle was going on in the depths
below, and then the Mussulman's lean,
lark face rose to the surface. upon
which, moment later. the crocodile's
mighty bulk floated limp and dead,
slain by a mortal stab in the throat
"Aferin. va habioi!" well done, my
triend) cried the Englishman, as the
,onqueror struggled ashore. Here
are twenty piastres (ifty cents) for
you, if you can accept the gift of an
unbeiiever."
mo matter for that, effendi," (gen-
tleman), replied the Arab. with grin.
tying up the coins in the greasy waist
coast which was his only clothing.
'You may be an unbeliever, but your