Two or three of these were made as the men attacked it with spears; but the strain of the rope on the reptile’s head prevented it from doing any mischief, and though it laid about it, thrashing furiously with its tail, no harm was done, while the men contrived to give it thrust after thrust in the soft under-parts of the neck, weakening it so, that at last they managed to turn it over on its back, and one of the Malays leaped upon it, and with a great knife ripped it up nearly from end to end.
Ned turned away sickened as the men now unfastened the rope from the tree and retied it, so as to give the reptile a very short tether.
“There’s no need for that now—is there?” said Ned, as he stood wiping his brow.
“No need to what?”
“Tie it up.”
“Only, that if they did not, the brute would crawl back into the river.”
“What, wounded like that?”
“Oh yes. They don’t seem to mind much. They’ll go back into the water even after the Malays have cut them open and taken out their inside. They always do that to see whether they are man-eaters. They’re doing it now. Come and look.”
“No,” said Ned. “I’m satisfied. We’ve caught him. That’s all too horrible.”
By this time the report was being spread that the monster had been taken, and footsteps were heard approaching, quite a little crowd hiding the reptile from the boys, and out of which crowd rose directly after a low wailing sound.