Nub got the noose ready to throw, while the doctor and Walter held their spears prepared for action. Nub drew nearer and nearer; the reptile opened one of its eyes, and then the other, and moved its tail slightly. In a moment the noose was dexterously thrown over its head, when Nub gave a violent pull before it had time to grasp the branch with its claws, and hauled it to the ground. “Now, Massa Walter,” he shouted out; “hold on to him tail.” But though both Walter and the doctor attempted to catch the creature’s tail, it whisked it about so violently that the task was no easy one. Nub meantime kept jumping round and round, as it made attempts to bite his legs. The doctor at length getting in front, ran his spear into its open mouth; while Walter, with the point of his, pressed its neck down to the ground. The creature had, however, still an abundance of life, and made desperate efforts to escape. When it advanced, the doctor drove his spear further down its throat; and when it retreated, finding the point unpleasant, Nub hauled away on the rope, which grew tighter and tighter round its neck.
“Hit it on the tail with your spear, Walter; a few heavy blows will soon render it helpless,” said the doctor; and Walter, as directed, belaboured the unfortunate creature, till at length its struggles ceased.
“Hurrah! we got him now,—and plenty of dinner to last us for many days,” shouted Nub. “I tink what we now got to do is to make ropes fast round him neck and drag him home.”
Nub’s suggestion was acted on; and having cut some vines and fastened them round the creature’s neck, they harnessed themselves and began hauling it along. The operation was somewhat fatiguing, owing to the roughness of the ground and the numerous roots which projected in all directions. Their arrival was welcomed cordially by the mate and Dan; Alice, however, could not believe that they intended to eat so hideous a creature. It was forthwith hoisted up to the branch of a tree; and while Nub and Dan prepared the fire for cooking it, the doctor cut open its inside, which was found full of tree-frogs, small lizards, and other creatures. Walter stood by watching him, as with scientific skill he dissected the huge lizard, discoursing as he did so in technical language, which was perfectly incomprehensible to his young hearer, on the curious formation of the creature,—on its bones, muscles, and other internal parts.
“I tink one ting,” observed Nub, who, after he had deposited a bundle of faggots near the fire, had come back to watch the proceedings. “I tink that he make bery good roast, and remarkably fine stew, if we had salt and pepper, and a few oder tings to eat wid him. I bery glad if we catch one of dese beasts ebery oder day.”
As soon as the doctor had satisfied his curiosity, Nub begged that he might have the joints, as it was time to begin cooking them for dinner. The remainder of the carcass was now hung up in the larder, which had been finished in time for its reception.
“We must see about preserving our meat, however,” observed the doctor, “or we shall always be liable to starvation; and the sooner we begin the better.”
“What do you propose doing?” asked Walter. “I was thinking of searching for salt on the seashore.”
“A still more effectual way of preserving the meat will be to smoke it, I suspect,” said the doctor. “We have an abundance of stones, and we can easily build a ‘smoking-house,’ with the ever-useful bamboos for rafters. We shall have time to do something before dinner.”
“At all events, we can make a beginning. There’s nothing like setting at once about a thing which has to be done,” observed Walter.