The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1910-11-04
CHAPTER II.
The Swimming Death

lHC OMllliliilAiS D~eAi-
0N Iam n John Harvard is
~ that thing?" queried Jack
We were riding along the right-hand
bank of the upper Nile. Gray D iacA
winged crows stTutted along the Wa a
side rocks in search of tiny nsh- hlles
and yultures m ost Of them mere as
t..nt specks, hung moVeless IN the HeICe
blue sky above US Through strange
seu1i-trooic scenes we moved. Even the
Nile itself had lost the turgid, YeloNlsh
green coloTtng il has III lower ESSP"
and ran as clear as crystal
Following the direction OF penn 5 eN-
cited gesture, 1 saw the waters sICmlS
divide, and a huge, anonymous Dl an
thing rise to the surface IL looked ike
sonethinr between a barrel and a bar
nacle-cOaJed log. ,,,.,-,.,,,
What is ito Jack repeated, blinking
at the shining water. ..r,-o-,
''TI's a crocodile" 1 answered FROM
the size of It's head, II must be neaIly
eighteen feet long. We're better or mere
than there. Ugly devil, isn't ~
..GeeI" calculated PeAn, almost SOL
emily, Il thought they ohIy ~ ga" saI
there's another! over there, TO the
Ieft, Wild onesi Wonder who teeds
emp" .,,o,, And
quite involuntarily at that. 800, 49,
.Roti' grlnted Penn. ''AH those
stories are fakes At the Bronx zoo
once / stuck my hand into the aInsaloI
rank and those silly sauTans just SCu0-
lied away as if they V ere mice. Ih S
warns about the ferocity OF crocOGlIes
and sharks and such things are Ll -s -
pure and simple They're cooked up 70
make good stories. Why, leh-y ca -
GOV with a stick could send one OF y, Slios
crocodiles screeching up tree! Na'cH
me pot one! ,.,-t,. HE
oonv 10 a halt and nred. A splasA %
water near the largest croGod4e : silou
attested the cloSeness or ms shoI- a
second bullet hit the great brute squate
between its beaGy. hdless eyes he
heavy. 45-caliber ball bounced OF the
armor-plate hide IKE q gram Oh Seiiu
uropped on an elephants back a..
Petty shooting" / commented, but
a waste of good lead. -.
No. he denied in triumph, as the
crocodile, with swish Of its tail SANK SAM
drowsiIy beneath the surface proved
what I said Tapped him on the head,
and he scrambled out Of sight-scared
should scarcely have characterized
the saurian giants digntned exit as q
scramble, but 1 held my peace and lent
only half an ear 10 Jacks continued dis
QUESTION on the habits, cOwardice ana
aspect Of crocOdiles in general, words
based on an ignorance whose protuholIy
was yet to be plumbed.
We had been some weeks upon our
Journey, Penn and I. From Cairo south
ward, first by dahabiyeh, then by ARAB
ponies, our trip had been one long holl-
day Now. We were far beyond the ut
most boundaries of the tourists domain,
and had crossed the desert bOrderland
into the Sudan itself, the land where,
ten years earlier, the fanatics under the
Hahdi had slain Gordon and stamped
out every trace Of civilization and prog
reSS.
The rumor Of Englands coming ven
,,eance, the massing Of British and
Egyptian troops under General Kitch-
ener for an invasion Of this darkest sec
ton Of the Dark Continent, had already
aroused the dervishes and the desert
tribes 10 a religious frenzy. More than
once had We passed forces Of greater OF
lesser size bound for the camp of f
Mahdfs successor, the Khalifa, where
the faithful were massing 20 repel the
inhdel invader.
By the advice Of our dragoman. Said
we kept well out Of sight when such