"Helup!" whooped Carl. "Der olt man-eader vill ged me oof you don'd do somet'ing."
It hadn't seemed to occur to the Dutch boy that he could go ashore—being much nearer the bank, in fact, than the submarine.
Dick had a hatchet which he had picked up from somewhere on the deck. He rushed back to the conning tower and climbed into it, thus securing an elevated position which offered some advantage in case he hurled the hatchet at the big saurian.
"Paddle ashore, Carl!" called Matt.
"Dot's so," gasped Carl; "meppy I vill. Coax der pig feller avay; I don'd like how he uses dot tail oof his."
Carl fell to work with his paddle. By that time, however, the alligator's temper was aroused, and, before Carl had got the pitpan turned, the big creature glided forward, opened its ponderous jaws and closed them about the forward end of the dugout.[B]
[B] The common supposition that an alligator uses only his tail as a weapon of offense and defense is erroneous. His tail is for swimming purposes, and his big jaws are his main reliance in combat.
There was a frightful crash, and the sides of the pitpan were stove in like an eggshell. One end of the wrecked boat was pushed high in the water, and Carl, at the other end, was in sore straits.
"Helup, or I vas a goner!" yelled Carl, leaping into the water as Motor Matt made ready to hurl the harpoon.
Carl's predicament had become serious in the extreme. If the enraged reptile turned on him, his doom was sealed. The task for Matt and Dick, which they recognized on the instant, was to wound the alligator and take its attention from the boy in the water.