"Port the helm, Wales," said the captain quietly. "He is going across the river."
Presently he came to the surface again, and was swimming towards the opposite shore. He kept his head and a small portion of his back next to it above the surface of the water, as the young hunters had seen in Sumatra before.
"Full speed; give her a spurt, Wales," said the captain.
The wheelman rang the speed-bell, and then spoke through the tube to the engineer. The boat suddenly darted ahead under this instruction, and was soon abreast of the reptile, who was not at first disposed to change his tactics. He evidently realized that he was pursued, and it seemed to make him angry.
"The rascal has put his helm to port," said Wales.
"Look out there, in the waist!" shouted Scott to the seamen, a couple of whom were seated on the rail, with their legs dangling over the side of the boat. "Never sit in that way, men, unless you want to be carried to the hospital with a leg bitten off."
"Will they bite, Captain?" asked Clinch.
"Bite? They are regular man-eaters on these rivers."
"I used to go in swimming with the alligators on the Alabama River; but they all kept their distance," added the seaman.
The two men drew in their legs and moved inboard. Alligators, which are generally considered harmless in the rivers of the Southern States, will bite at anything hanging in the water. As Wales had suggested, the crocodile had changed his course, and was now headed directly for the Blanchita. He seemed to have concluded that there was no safety for him in flight, and he had decided to fight.