As the lad swam he measured the distance to the shore. He knew that the alligator was coming at a faster pace than his own, but he hoped that the start he had gained might yet enable him to reach the shore before those terrible jaws should close on him.
It was a close calculation, but he decided that he had a chance. He put redoubled power into his strokes and swam as he had never swum before.
But his heart sank as he noted how steep the bank was at the nearest point. Had the shore been shelving, he might have been able to find a footing when the water grew shallower and rush up on land before the cayman could reach him.
But the bank was three or four feet high and ran straight up and down. He would have to reach up, grasp the edge and pull himself up. And he realized only too well that before he could do this the alligator might have caught him.
In his heart Bomba felt that he was doomed.
But his indomitable spirit refused to give up. He called to his aid all his reserves of force and swam on. As a last resort he had his knife. He could stab with it, perhaps hold off for a moment the vicious rushes of his foe. But as against a knife, of course the alligator would conquer in the end.
One last glance Bomba cast behind. The cayman had made up much of the distance between them and was now fearfully close. A minute more perhaps and then——
Bomba cast one farewell look at the sky and felt for his knife.
But as he looked upward, something brushed across his face. It was the branch of a tree that hung far out over the water.
A ray of hope cut through the blackness of the boy’s despair. With the quickness of a cat, he grasped the branch and swung himself up on it out of the water. Even as he did so, he heard beneath him the snap of the alligator’s jaws.