The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1911-04-20

OF the horrible IdCC Cudt tue C4oCoulle
was on his back, with it's tail over
his head and it's mouth at his feet,
where it was apparently making a
meal off one his heels. Shortly af-
terward the brute left off feeding and
went away.
The unfortunate man says that as
he lay there in that awful cave he
prayed to his gods, Dattatray and
Krishna, to save him from his terri
BILE predicament He was still en-
gagged in this occupation when, hav-
ing been away about an hour, the
crocodile returned. The man lay still,
and shortly afterward the brute de-
parted again, having only shifted at
his victim. Some time elapsed, and
the crocodile did not return, 80
thinking he was fairly safe, the man
began to examine his surroundings
to discover if there was any possibili-
ty of escape. The cave was in total
darkness, and he had accordingly to
rely on his sense of touch. First of
all he moved forward a couple of
yards and groped about until he put
his hand in some soft mud.
Encouraged by the fact that he had
been left so long alone, Pira crawled
further forward and put his hand in
to some water; evidently he was get
ting nearer to the river. This, how
ever, was the sign for more trouble
for the unhappy man, for the croco-
die, which had been all the time ly-
| ing at the mouth of the cave appar-
emily saw and heard him, for, COM
ing back, it precipitated him into the
river with violent blow of it's tail.
While the man was struggling in
the water the crocodile dived, and
Pira suddenly felt it rising beneath
him. This movement brought him
upon it's back. Finding his hands
were near the "mugger's" head, and
nerved by desperation, he felt for his
nostrils, and hung on to them as hard
as he could. Meanwhile he made his
''seat" as secure as his remaining
strength permitted by twining his
legs as far as possible under the mon
ster's stomach.
And now comes the most exciting
| part of the adventure-thes story of
the unfortunate mans unique ride.
Pira found that if, each time the
crocodile attempted to dive, he pull
ed upon it's nostrils hard enough, it
promptly came to the surface. Need
less to say, he made the best possible
use of this discovery. The brute, af-
ter endeavoring without success to
dislodge it's rider, shot off like light
| ming toward the center of the river,
where it proceeded to travel up and
| down stream at furious pace for
about an hour. The man recognized
his whereabouts by the light of the
moon, and knew that he was in the
Shawdeshwar, not far from his home.
Toward dawn the crocodile became
somewhat exhausted, but still con-
tinued it's evolutions in the middle of
the river.
Once it tried to make for it's ,air,
but the man promptly pulled its nos
tril toward the opposite shore, and
so managed to keep in deep water.
He had the sense to understand that
if once he was taken to dry grocnd
his chance of escape would be very
small, and all he could hope for was
rescue by some men coming down to
the river to bathe or fetch water in
the early morning. And it was thus
he was eventually saved.
AS soon as the sun rose Pira es-
pied two men working in field near
the river bank, and shouted as loud
ly as his weak state would permit in
order to attract their attention. At
first he was not heard, but after call
ing two or three times the younger
of the men looked up and saw him.
By this time the crocodile was scarce
ly moving. The younger man told the
other that there was some one In the
river calling for help, ond both came
to the bank and asked Pira who he
was and why he was calling. With
that the man pulled the crocodile's
snout upward, for by this time he was
almost too weak to articulate. The
other man then recognized him and
asked him where he had been since
Sunday night. He was being searched
for all down the river side, they said.
By way of answer, Pira called for a
rope.
The men on shore now noticed the
s'Muggers'' head for the first time,
and were very much alarmed and as
tonished, Their cries that "Pira is
riding a crocodile!" brought a crowd