Instantly there was a rush from seats and lounging places, and those who happened to be in the cabin came out as though a shell had exploded among them. Some ran one way and some another, and several went to the wrong side of the boat.
The crocodile was lying on a sand-bank two hundred yards or more from the course of the steamer. He was evidently enjoying a sun-bath when disturbed by the sound of the paddle-wheels, and concluded that the wisest plan for him to follow was to drop into the water.
While he remained quiet he could easily have been mistaken for a blackened log, but as soon as he was in motion there was no doubt on the subject. Creeping rather than walking, he was soon at the edge of the water, and, without pausing to see what it was that disturbed him, he disappeared beneath the surface of the river.
The Doctor told the boys that many persons made the tour of the Nile nowadays without getting a single glimpse of a crocodile below the first cataract. Above Assouan crocodiles are more frequent, and beyond Khartoom they are so abundant that dozens of them may be counted in a single day. Thirty years ago they were numerous in the vicinity of Thebes and Keneh, and it was dangerous to venture into the water lest they might take a notion to a breakfast on humanity. On the upper part of the Nile, in the vicinity of Gondokoro, they are large and ferocious, and hardly a day passes that they do not carry off a native who has incautiously ventured into the river or near its edge.
It is the ambition of every tourist who ascends the Nile in a dahabeeah to bring back the skin of at least one crocodile as a trophy. The best way of killing this kind of game is to shoot him when he is taking his nap on a sand-bank; and if proper caution is observed, and the position is favorable, the sportsman may approach within forty or fifty yards without disturbing his prey. The scales of the reptile are so thick and hard that an ordinary rifle-ball glances off as from an iron plate. The only vulnerable point is behind the fore-leg, and a good chance for a shot is not always presented.
Of late years considerable havoc has been made among crocodiles by means of explosive bullets, which burst as they strike and tear a hole in the crocodile, in addition to making a general disturbance internally if the proper spot has been reached.
A large package of letters was at the hotel in Cairo for our friends, and they sat till far into the night perusing and discussing these welcome missives. Everybody at home was well, and there were lots of congratulations for Frank and Fred over the intelligent use they had made of their time, and their interesting accounts of what they had seen in their travels. The presents for Mary and Miss Effie were greatly admired by those young ladies as well as by their friends, and one of the letters contained a polite intimation that similar selections in future would be as cordially welcomed. There was a renewal of the suggestion that the letters and journals of the youths ought to go into a book. Mrs. Bassett said the village editor had printed all the letters in his paper, and they had been so highly praised that he was sure they ought to be preserved in a more permanent form.
"Well," said Fred, "it seems as though we were to become authors whether we want to or not."
"I don't see any harm in it," responded his cousin. "Authors may do some good in the world if they make good books, can't they?"
"Of course they can," was the reply; "and if we become authors we'll try to make books that nobody can object to."