On many occasions they never moved from the shot when
basking on sand-banks, but were simply extinguished.
One of our women went to the river to wash, but never returned. This was
close to our diahbeeah; and the water being shallow, there is no doubt
that she was seized by a crocodile.
I was one day returning from head-quarters to my station, a distance of
a mile and a half along the river's bank, when I noticed the large head
of a crocodile about thirty yards from the shore. I knew every inch of
the river, and I was satisfied that the water was shallow. A solitary
piece of waving rush that grew upon the bank, exactly opposite the
crocodile, would mark the position; thus, stooping down, I quietly
retreated inland from the bank, and then running forward, I crept gently
towards the rush. Stooping as low as possible, I advanced till very near
the bank (upon which grew tufts of grass), until, by slowly raising my
head, I could observe the head of the crocodile in the same position,
not more than twenty-six or twenty-eight yards from me. At that
distance, the Dutchman could hit a half-crown; I therefore made sure of
bagging. The bank was about four feet above the water; thus the angle
was favourable, and I aimed just behind the eye. Almost as I touched the
trigger, the crocodile gave a convulsive start, and turning slowly on
its back, it stretched its four legs above the surface, straining every
muscle; it then remained motionless in this position in water about two
feet deep.
My horse was always furnished with a long halter or tethering-rope:
thus I ordered the syce and another man to jump into the river and
secure the crocodile by a rope fastened round the body behind the
fore-legs. This was quickly accomplished, and the men remained knee-deep
hauling upon the rope to prevent the stream from carrying away the body.
In the mean time Monsoor had mounted my horse and galloped off for
assistance to the camp of the "Forty Thieves."
Crocodiles are very tenacious of life, and although they may be shot
through the brain and be actually dead for all practical purposes, they
will remain motionless at first, but they will begin instinctively to
move the limbs and tail a few minutes after receiving the shot. If lying
upon a sand-bank, or in deep water, they would generally disappear
unless secured by a rope, as the spasmodic movements of the limbs and
tail would set upon the water, and the body would be carried away.
The crocodile, that had appeared stone dead, now began to move its tail,
and my two men who were holding on to the rope cried out that it was
still alive.
