Evening star., 1930-11-30

fervor, they dragged it upstream, where they
commenced chopping it up with great glee and
sayagery. In less than 10 minutes all that
remained Of the big fellow, cozily doing in
the sunlight short while before, small
hill of chopped meat and bones. The old boy
had been game to the end but he was mon
ster, an Unsuitable man-eater, and certainly
deserved to die. At a conservative estimate, it
must have consumed at least 80 unfortunate
humans.
That evening in camp, after we had enjoyed
a well earned supper and were contentedly
putting away at our pipes our thoughts and talk
naturally turned toward crocodiles. Bowker
was the first whose tongue was looSened by
memory and he described experiences he had
had while prospecting up the Ubangi River in
French Equatorial Africa.
up in that country" he began, his eyes
reminiscently fastened upon the dancing fire,
"the crocodiles get SO hungry that at times
they raid the riverside villages, grabbing dogs,
goats and any hapless humans that may cross
their path
Silently listening I'm sure all our minds went
back to that same afternoon Somebody shiv-
ered somebody else cleared his throat, and,
after a second, Bowker went on
"One afternoon he continued "I arrived at
q fair-sized settlement. There were several
white residents and a government bona (off-
Gals headquarters). After had rested bit,
We played tennis on grass court at the bona.
The last game was just over and we were ad-
journing to the veranda of the house, when
suddenly we heard q frantic shrieking and
screaming. We all turned in the direction Of
the tumult-which came from the road leading
up from the river bank-and were astounded
to see about half q dozen native women rum
ming like mad several of them making for the
bamboo fence that incloSed the compound and
trying to climb over it.
Behind the women, their heads lifted high
OF the ground, waddling swiftly on all four
feet, their terrible tails dragging the ground
and stirring up clouds of dust, were three inn
mense crocodiles, with great wide mouths gap
ing greedily open. On their short legs they
were covering the ground fast, and their huge
open jaws displayed formidable rows of sharp,
ugly teeth. They kept swapping these awesome
clap-traps together they scurried after their
fleeing game making noise like the swapping
of steel traps. Some of the poor women, ex-
hausted, seemed bound to be caught"
DWENTS pipe rolled out OF his mouth, and
sheepishly he retrieved it from the floor,
while Bowker, unconscious of this tribute to
his storytelling powers, kept on:
I'VE had only revolvers at hand, and those
would be practically useless unless lucky shot
should by chance frighten the crocodiles away.
But we started running swiftly across the COM
pound to the rescue of the unfortunate women.
The wicked monsters had apparently lost all
fear of humans, for they kept advancing, put
ting scores of yards between themselves and the
river. Most Of the women had managed by
then to make the bamboo, but two of their
number were still behind, running more and
more slowly with fatigue. The crocodiles, clos
ing up, would have caught them and dragged
them back into the slime of their river lair in
another moment had not some of the house
boys, who had heard the commotion, rushed up.
From q nearby pile they Snatched large bam-
boo poles plunged them far down the extended
throats of the frenzied reptiles. Fearlessly the
natives went after them, lunging on the ends of
their poles like athletes out for a silver cup
While the beasts huge tails lashed the ground
in agony and pain. they were literally pinned
down and fast choking tn death when