Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-12-06

| with a hand ak, and with a rapid
motion swung the body into the bottom
of the boat. True, | was somewhat
| treasured by seeing how very limp
and fabby the body of this one looked;
still 1 could not help wondering what
a large one would do If Ames' blow
with the ak was insufficient to para
lyze the muscular contractionS of Inc
powerful tail.
On we went, and the farther we went
the fainter grew the chorus of frogs.
but the silence and stiffness of our i'm
mediate neighbors seemed almost more
oppressive, and the surroundings more
weird. Soon again came the flash and
| bang, which seemed to rend the air
like a clap of thunder, and the echo re-
verberated on all sides from the now
distant swamp. Swiftly answering the
signaling tap on the side of the boat, l
had her alongside of the 'gator-or
where he ought to have been. For,
from a smothered exclamation from
Ames, 1 gathered that he had either
missed him or else he had failed to
catch the snout of the gator before he
sank.
On again; and now it was long,
weary journey before we got another
shot, this time a successful one, ana
my worst fears were realized as to the
possibility of a hot corner If we got
anything over fifteen feet. The prize
was about eight feet, and the way 1T
Topped its scaly tail about threatened
to knock the bottom of the boat out.
Worse still 1t occurred to me hat the
tails always arrived in the boat point
ing in my direction, and the two bodies
already slowed away seemed to occupy
most of the available space.
In the next hour or so we got two
more medium sized passengers, whose
presence seemed highly undesirable, IN
~ CaI Of ha h.
footer, and / was getting more and
more anxious; but, in spite of my anx-
iety I found that l could scarcely
keep my eyes open, so sleepy had
become.
Half sleeping half waking. I padded
on almost mechanically until the next
bang awoke me to a lively sense of
my whereabouts, for the next moment
the boat seemed almost to capsize as
Ames, after a short but desperate
struggle, managed to hoist great
brute, with a body apparently as large
as a flour barrel, into the boat. some
how or other 1t appeared that he had
missed his blow with the ak, or lad
to use both hands in lifting the cum
bersone creature out of the water for
1t was anything but dead as 1t flung
its awful tail hither and thither with
the force of a steam hammer.
1t had seized the middle seat of the
boat with its jaws and it's whole pom
derous body seemed to lift itself up
and dash itself down again md again
upon it's deceased relatives, who were,
fortunately, beneath him, or L felt sure
that the bottom of the boat would
have been broken to matchwood.
At the first symptoms of this out
break of hostile activity my friend had
in some manner got almost out of the
boat and was spraWling over tn prov,
hp anaad 4 his stomach
with his head facing the Infatuated
| gator, and in this position he managed
to secure his AK and quickly struck
the animal its deathblow.
Even after this, however, the tail
kept on giving spasmodic fiops, any one
of which might have broken ones leg;
but, needless to say, that, with the nat
ural instinct of self-preservation, 1 had
so disposed of my legs as to be safe
from possible fractures. How l did 1t
l cannot say, even to this day, but my
impression is that l sat on the stern
with my feet elevated in the air over
the water.
On examining the alligator afterward
we discovered that only one buckshot
had struck the mark, and 1 suppose 1t
was only partially stunned. How 1t
escaped the bulk of the charge at so
short range l cannot say, but the fact
remains the monster measured 13 feet
IL lncheS from the emu OF MS SHOUT 10
the tip of his tail, the largest one that
Ames had ever killed.
After we had recovered our breath
and our peace of mind. my companion
announced that he had had enough
sport for that night, and l need
hardly say 1 cordially agreed with
him, and we set off toward home
again, he with feelings of Intense
satisfaction at his excellent bag, and
1 with feelings of intense relief at the
termination of the hunt.
Many years have passed, but have
never been on the swamp again after
alligators, though I have had many
an enjoyable day of duck shooting
there. H. c. WADE.