Shaddy made no reply for the moment, but busied himself in altering the position of the boat before letting go, and then hooking the bough of another of the trees, one which did not communicate with the fire, and to this he made fast before rising up in the boat, taking off his cap, and dashing it down.
“Yes,” he said harshly, “right, sir. We should have been carried right down the stream— Be off, you brute!”
This was to an alligator which was approaching the boat with the protuberances above its eyes just visible, and as he uttered the adjuration he made a stroke with the hitcher harpoon fashion, struck the reptile full on its tough hide, and there was a swirl, a rush, and a tremendous splash of water full in Shaddy’s face as the creature struck the surface with its tail and then disappeared.
“Thank ye,” growled Shaddy, wiping his face; “but you got the worst of it, mate. As aforesaid, maybe, Mr Brazier, sir, we should ha’ been carried right down the stream, and run on a sharp root or trunk as would ha’ drove a hole through the boat or capsized us, and there’d ha’ been the end.”
“What could you have been thinking of, Naylor?” cried Brazier angrily; while Rob looked pityingly and feeling sorry for the staunch, brave man, who stood there abashed by his position.
“Warn’t thinking at all, sir,” he growled. “Only ought to ha’ been. There, don’t make it worse, sir, by bullying me. You trusted me, and I thought I was fit to trust, but there’s the vanity o’ man’s natur’. I arn’t fit to trust, so I’d take it kindly if you’d knock me overboard; but you’d better knock my stoopid head off first to save pain.”
This was all spoken with the most utter seriousness, and as Shaddy finished he slowly laid down the boat-hook and looked full in Brazier’s eyes, with the result that Rob burst into a roar of laughter. Joe followed suit, and after an attempt to master himself and frown Brazier joined in, the mirth increasing as Shaddy said sternly,—
“Oh, it arn’t nothing to laugh at! If Master Rob there hadn’t woke up before morning, the ’gators and pirani, without counting the other critters, would have been having a treat. I tell you I’m ashamed of myself, and the sooner an end’s made of me the better. Why, you ought to do it, sir, in self-defence.”
“How near are we to morning?” said Brazier.
“’Tis morning now, sir. Sun’ll be up in less an half an hour. No dawn here.”