“What you saw,” Mr Harvey said, “was a portion of the head; the alligator often lies with just his eyes and nostrils out of water.”
“Did you kill it, sir, do you think?” Dick asked.
“Oh! no,” Mr Harvey replied; “the ball would glance off his head, as it would from the side of an ironclad ship. It woke him up, and flustrated him a bit; but he is none the worse for it. So you see, Tom, that pool is hardly fit to bathe in.”
“No, indeed, sir,” Tom answered, turning a little pale at the thought of the danger which he had proposed to incur. “I would rather fight half a dozen lions than get into the water with those brutes.”
“I don’t know about half a dozen lions,” Mr Harvey said; “although certainly one lion is an easier foe to tackle than an alligator. But one can never be too careful about bathing in this country. In the smallest pools, only a few yards long and a few feet wide, an alligator may be lurking, especially if the weather is dry and the pools far apart. Even when only drawing water at such places it is well to be careful, and it is always the best plan to poke the bottom for a short distance round with a pole before dipping in a bucket. Remember, if you should ever happen to be seized by one of these animals, there is but one chance, and that is to turn at once and stick your thumbs into his eyes. It requires nerve when a brute has got you by the leg, but it is your only chance, and the natives, when seized by alligators, often escape by blinding their foes. The pain and sudden loss of sight always induces them to loose their hold.”
“I hope I shall never have to try,” Tom said, shivering.
“It is safer not, certainly,” Mr Harvey agreed; “but there, I see dinner is ready, and Jumbo has got a bucket of water, so you can douse your heads and wash your hands without fear of alligators.”
At nightfall the cattle were all driven in. The horses and a few of the most valuable oxen were placed in the laager formed by the waggons; the rest were fastened outside to them, side by side, by their horns; at each corner the natives had piled up a great heap of firewood. An hour after sunset the roar of a lion was heard out on the plain; it was answered simultaneously in six or eight directions, and the stamping of the oxen announced that the animals were conscious of danger.
“There are a troop of them about,” Mr Harvey said, “just as I feared. Put a little more wood on the fires, boys; it is as well to keep them burning briskly, but it will probably be some hours before they work themselves up to make an attack upon us.”
As the time went on, the roaring became louder and more continuous.