Presently the creature really began to struggle, and the
united efforts of the men could hardly restrain it from getting into
deeper water. The monster now began to yawn, which so terrified the men
that they would have dropped the rope and fled had they not been afraid
of the consequences, as I was addressing them rather forcibly from the
bank. I put another shot through the shoulder of the struggling monster,
which appeared to act as a narcotic until the arrival of the soldiers
with ropes. No sooner was the crocodile well secured than it began to
struggle violently; but a great number of men hauled upon the rope, and
when it was safely landed, I gave it a blow with a sharp axe on the back
of the neck, which killed it by dividing the spine.
It was now dragged along the turf until we reached the camp, where it
was carefully measured with a tape, and showed an exact length of 12
feet 3 inches from snout to end of tail.
The stomach contained about five pounds' weight of pebbles, as though it
had fed upon flesh resting upon a gravel bank, and had swallowed the
pebbles that had adhered. Mixed with the pebbles was a greenish, slimy
matter that appeared woolly. In the midst of this were three undeniable
witnesses that convicted the crocodile of wilful murder. A necklace and
two armlets, such as are worn by the negro girls, were taken from the
stomach! The girl had been digested. This was an old malefactor that was
a good riddance.
I have frequently seen crocodiles upwards of eighteen feet in length,
and there can be little doubt that they sometimes exceed twenty; but a
very small creature of this species may carry away a man while swimming.
The crocodile does not attempt to swallow an animal at once, but having
carried it to a favourite feeding-place, generally in some deep hole,
it tears it limb from limb with teeth and claws and devours it at
leisure.
The camp of the "Forty Thieves" had been finished some time since: the
gardens were flourishing, and I erected a "shadoof," or Egyptian double
bucket and lever for irrigation. Two men could lift and throw out 3,600
gallons per hour. I made the calculation as nearly as possible: the iron
buckets contained slightly more than four gallons each; thus, two men
with the double shadoof lifted eight gallons every eight seconds (or one
lift in eight seconds): a gallon per second gave 3,600 per hour.
I never allowed the "Forty Thieves" to work at the general
head-quarters, but kept them as my personal escort. When at Tewfikeeyah
I had been particular in their drill, and I had endeavoured to teach
them to shoot accurately.
