Just as the sun was sinking, and while the river glowed with the yellow, horizontal rays, they were startled by the approach of the largest alligator on which they had ever looked. They did not see him until he was close to the island, and indeed in the act of leaving the water and coming toward them. He was fully eighteen feet long, and there could be no doubt that he meant to attack the boys. His size, age, and appetite, would not permit him to stop at trifles.
“I’ll take the right eye,” said Jim.
“And I the left,” said Joe in an undertone.
The boys had cast aside their umbrella, and kneeling on one knee they took careful aim at the monster. Like the patriots at Bunker Hill, they waited until they saw the whites of the enemy’s eyes, and then they fired together.
The distance was short, and the aim so true, that either bullet would have proved fatal. As it was, the alligator, with a horrible whiffing snort, swung spasmodically about, clawed the sand into showers, and then died, as any creature must whose brain has been bored through by two leaden pellets.
That was a dismal night to Jim and Joe. They feared that the other reptiles would come upon the island to attack the slain monarch, in which case they were likely to give some unpleasant attention to the boys. But fortunately the saurians did not do so, and when the sun rose in the morning, matters may be said to have been in statu quo.
The main suffering of the boys was for water. They had brought a bottle with them, but that was exhausted on the first day, and they waited until they were extremely thirsty before drinking from the muddy current that swept sluggishly by.
By noon, they began to feel serious alarm. They had used up nearly all their ammunition, and had shouted and yelled till their heads ached and their voices were husky. There were no more signs of any one else being in the solitude than there would have been in the middle of Sahara.
Disconsolate Joe was leaning on his elbow under the shade of the umbrella, wondering how many days it would be before their parents would miss them, how many weeks before the party of search would set out, and how many months before their remains would be found bleaching upon the sandy island—that is, provided the alligators did not make a feast upon them.
He happened to be looking at the huge carcass of the reptile, when he noticed that beneath the flaming heat it was distended to double its natural size. It was a frightful looking sight indeed.