Several large trees grew close to the edge
and formed a good hiding-place; I therefore landed, and, sending the
canoe to a distance, I watched the water.
I had not been five minutes in this position before I saw in the water
at my feet, in a deep hole close to the bank, the immense form of a
crocodile as he was slowly rising from his hiding-place to the surface.
He appeared to be about eighteen feet long, and he projected his horny
head from the surface, bubbled, and then floated with only his forehead
and large eyes above the water. He was a horrible-looking monster, and
from his size I hoped he was the villain that had committed the late
depredations. He was within three yards of me; and, although I stood
upon the bank, his great round eyes gazed at me without a symptom of
fear. The next moment I put a two-ounce ball exactly between them, and
killed him stone dead. He gave a convulsive slap with his tail, which
made the water foam,, and, turning upon his back, he gradually sank,
till at length I could only distinguish the long line of his white belly
twenty feet below me.
Not having any apparatus for bringing him to the surface, I again took
to the canoe, as a light breeze that had sprung up was gradually moving
the carcass of the buffalo away. This I slowly followed, until it at
length rested in a wide belt of rushes which grew upon the shallows near
the shore. I pushed the canoe into the rushes within four yards of the
carcass, keeping to windward to avoid the sickening smell.
I had not been long in this position before the body suddenly rolled
over as though attacked by something underneath the water, and the next
moment the tall reeds brushed against the sides of the canoe, being
violently agitated in a long line, evidently by a crocodile at the
bottom.
The native in the stern grew as pale as a black can turn with fright,
and instantly began to paddle the canoe away. This, however, I soon
replaced in its former position, and then took his paddle away to
prevent further accidents. There sat the captain of the fragile vessel
in the most abject state of terror. We were close to the shore, and the
water was not more than three feet deep, and yet he dared not jump out
of the canoe, as the rushes were again brushing against its sides, being
moved by the hidden beast at the bottom. There was no help for him, so,
after vainly imploring me to shove the canoe into deep water, he at
length sat still.
In a few minutes the body of the buffalo again moved, and the head and
shoulders of a crocodile appeared above water and took a bite of some
pounds of flesh. I could not get a shot at the head from his peculiar
position, but I put a ball through his shoulders, and immediately shoved
the canoe astern. Had I not done this, we should most likely have been
upset, as the wounded brute began to lash out with his tail in all
directions, till he at length retired to the bottom among the rushes.
Here I could easily track him, as he slowly moved along, by the movement
of the reeds. Giving the native the paddle, I now by threats induced him
to keep the canoe over the very spot where the rushes were moving, and
we slowly followed on the track, while I kept watch in the bow of the
canoe with a rifle.
Suddenly the movement in the rushes ceased, and the canoe stopped
accordingly. I leaned slightly over the side to look into the water,
when up came a large air-bubble, and directly afterwards an apparition
in the shape of some fifteen pounds of putrid flesh. The stench was
frightful, but I knew my friend must be very bad down below to disgorge
so sweet a morsel. I therefore took the paddle and poked for him; the
water being shallow, I felt him immediately. Again the rushes moved; I
felt the paddle twist as his scaly back glided under it, and a pair of
gaping jaws appeared above the water, wide open and within two feet of
the canoe. The next moment his head appeared, and the two-ounce ball
shattered his brain. He sank to the bottom, the rushes moved slightly
and were then still.
I now put the canoe ashore, and cutting a strong stick, with a crook at
one end, I again put out to the spot and dragged for him. He was quite
dead; and catching him under the fore-leg, I soon brought him gently to
the surface of the water. I now made fast a line to his fore-leg, and we
towed him slowly to the village, the canoe being level with the water's
edge.
His weight in the water was a mere trifle, but on arrival at the village
on the banks of the lake, the villagers turned out with great glee, and
fastened ropes to different parts of his body to drag him out. This
operation employed about twenty men. The beast was about fourteen feet
long; and he was no sooner on shore than the natives cut him to pieces
with axes, and threw the sections into the lake to be devoured by his
own species. This was a savage kind of revenge, which appeared to afford
them great satisfaction.
Taking a large canoe, I paddled along the shores of the lake with a
shot-gun, and made a good bag of ducks and teal, and returned to
breakfast. The fatness and flavour of the wild ducks in Ceylon are quite
equal to the best in England.
