"He ate up most of the dogs in town soon after he appeared, and whenever a new dog happened along with a stranger he usually became a bonne bouche for the pet. But there were two dogs in Cardwell that knew his ways; when ordered to do so, they would go down on the beach, where they barked and played with each other, apparently heedless of the alligator, but all the time keeping out of range of his jaws. In this way he was often enticed out upon the sand, the dogs seeming to enjoy the fun. He became the lion of the place, and was always the first sight shown to strangers. When the town was first established, shots were fired at him; but as soon as his importance as a curiosity became known, he enjoyed immunity, and at the time I was there any one who ventured to harm him would have been roughly handled by the inhabitants, as he was literally the pet of the town."
Frank asked the narrator if he knew how large the Cardwell Pet was.
BIG BEN AND HIS FRIENDS.
"I do not," was the reply, "and circumstances did not permit accurate measurement. I have seen many alligators in Queensland that exceeded nineteen feet in length, several that were more than twenty, and there was one taken on the Fitzroy and called Big Ben that measured twenty-three feet six inches. When I last heard of him he was owned by Jamrach, in London. I think the Cardwell Pet was quite equal to Big Ben, and possibly larger; you know it is always the largest fish that is not weighed or measured. Anyway, the pet was said to have made a meal of a sundowner, though I don't believe he really did, as that class of game is too cautious."
Fred asked what a sundowner was. He had heard the term several times, but thus far it had not been explained to him.
WAITING FOR SUNSET.