, 1888-06-28
sLAYlNe The ALLIGATOR.
A Simple Thing for the Cuban Hunter 10
Do-Exciting Sport

n oAAAlhS III y tho SubAh hAh ~
Do-Exciting Sport
We had reached the San Juan river,
and following its course for a rapid ride
for a dozen or more miles came to a
series of wide, low bayous, or lagoons,
which set back from the river in some
places for miles. These were filed with
all manner of luxuriant tropio vegetation
and reeds similar to those from which
the Guines valley takes its name, inter
spersed at intervals with stretches of
wild Ear Here and there great drifts
of moss chung from limbs Of gigantic
trees to the very surface of the still la
goons. The silence of the locality was
something wonderful Strange birds
with long, gaunt bodies and trailing legs
circled dolorously above. Not a ripple
broke upon the surface of the slimy
bayous. The reeds were straight and
still. The gray moss was motionless in
the shadows. The dogs kept close to our
horses heels, and when we halted and
tied the latter crouched close and silent
beside them. l had noticed Jose at work
upon some old pieces of blackened an
vas. When we dismounted he removed
his sombrero and put one of these upon
his head, placing others in the waist of
his blouse.
Come" said Don Manuel, 1--WE win
show you how harmless aIigators are
when you know them and what a simple
thing it is for Cubans to kill them"
Moving stealthily along the edge of
the lagoon, we suddenly heard here,
there, beyond, and again as If all about
US, heavy splashes into the water, and
the quick parting and subsequent trem-
bling Of countless swarths of reeds
showed where %unwieldy objects had
made startling passages We were
among a school of alligators. How
ulany2 "Well, may be several thou
sand within a square miler" answered
the Don c~omplacently. Jose had a ire
mendous guabrahaca dumped stick as
large, almost as heavy and quite as strong
as a crowbar in his hand. AT a word
from Don Manuel he glided forward and
flung himself in areclining posture on a
firm bit of ground perhaps fifty feet from
the edge of the lagoon, while the Don
and myself hid in the edge of the Jungle.
An almost uncomfortable silence of per-
haps half an hour ensued. Then gentle
splashings among the reeds were heard.
These were shortly followed by many
soft, half whistled gruntings. Directly
the heads of two alligators parted the
tNtdo AiNdA "A'iC OOoC lay hlOblOll1Coo.
For a time these were also motionless as
an Oriental study in bronze. Then the
bodies followed, slowly and cautiously at
first, but soon with incredible rapidity
they moved upon Jose.
! believe l was never 80 apprehensive
and excited in my life. ''SilenceI'
Kissed Don Manuel. Instantly one flop
ped about, scampered to the land edge
and whisked himself into the bayou.
But the other, with swapping eyes and
quivering jaws, was bent on having Cuban
meat for breakfast. In another instant
he was at Jose's side. The latter bounded
into the air like a rubber ball. Flinging
his canva hat into the alligator's jaws,
which snapped and crunched it hideously,
the guabrahaca stick whistled through a
wide air circle and descended with a
crash into the reptiles skull Before its
first culver and sprawl Jose's machete
was through its shoulders q foot into the
solid soil beneath, and this bull alligator,
seventeen feet in length, was dead.-Ed-
gar l.. Wakeman's Cuba Letter.