But those awful jaws missed the boy by a hair’s breadth. The speed at which the brute was going carried it several yards farther before it could turn. And by that time, spurred on by dreadful necessity, Bomba had climbed farther up on the heavy bough and was out of reach.
The rage of the baffled man-eater was fearful to witness. It churned the water into foam and emitted frightful bellowings as it leaped half out of the water, trying to reach the prey of which it had been cheated. It gnashed its teeth and its red eyes gleamed with fury.
For a full half hour Bomba lay extended on the branch, feeling with unspeakable relief and delight the strength come back into his muscles and vitality creep into his exhausted frame.
The alligator still kept up its watch, and Bomba wondered why. Did it not know that its quarry had escaped? Then he realized that the brute was not so stupid after all.
For the alligator is a land as well as a water animal, and though its prey had baffled it for a while, it knew that the boy, soon or late, would have to descend the tree. And when Bomba should slide down the trunk to the ground, his enemy meant to clamber up the bank and be waiting at the foot of the tree to receive him.
Luckily Bomba’s bow was still slung over his shoulder and his arrows were at his belt. His immersion had been so sudden that he had not had time to discard them. They had hindered him in his swimming, but now he blessed the fact that they were with him.
His position was a difficult one to shoot from, for he would have to use both hands for his bow and depend on his sense of equilibrium to keep him secure on the branch. If he should lose his balance, he would topple into the water, and he shuddered to think what would happen after that.
He solved his problem in part by wrapping both legs closely around the bough. Then he fitted an arrow to his string and took careful aim.
He knew that about the only vulnerable part of the alligator was the eye. An arrow striking anywhere else would simply rebound from the tough hide without inflicting any material damage.
It was some time before Bomba could get a good view of his target. The cayman kept swimming about with its head half submerged in the turbid water.