"Make haste," said Mokoum, in a low voice; "I don't understand why these animals don't rush on him."
"They are waiting till he is gamey," said Sir John, alluding to the idea common among the natives that these reptiles never touch fresh meat.
The bushman and Sir John, telling their companions to wait for them, passed round the lagoon, and reached the narrow isthmus by which alone they could get near Palander. They had not gone two hundred steps, when the crocodiles, leaving the water, made straight towards their prey. Palander saw nothing, but went on writing.
"Be quick and calm," whispered Mokoum, "or all is lost."
Both, kneeling down, aimed at the nearest reptiles, and fired. Two monsters rolled into the water with broken backs, and the rest simultaneously disappeared beneath the surface.
At the sound of the guns Palander raised his head. He recognized his companions, and ran towards them waving his note-book, and like the philosopher of old exclaiming "Eureka!" he cried, "I have found it!"
"What have you found?" asked Sir John.
"An error in the last decimal of a logarithm of James Wolston's."
It was a fact. The worthy man had discovered the error, and had secured a right to the prize offered by Wolston's editor. For four days had the astronomer wandered in solitude. Truly Ampère, with his unrivalled gift of abstraction, could not have done better!