118 LECTUKE IX. 



who safely reached the bank, which he could 

 easily have ascended; but, rendered foolhardy 

 by his escape, he placed himself behind a tree 

 which had fallen partly into the water, and, 

 drawing a heavy knife, leaned over the tree, and, 

 as the alligator approached, struck him on the 

 nose, and kept on repeating the blows until the 

 animal, exasperated at the resistance, rushed on 

 the man, and seizing him by the middle of the 

 body, which he crushed, swam into the river, 

 where the poor man's sufferings could not have 

 been very long. This alligator was soon after- 

 wards killed by means of being drawn into three 

 very strong nets placed in the river: he broke 

 through two of them, but got entangled in the 

 third, and was speared to death after a long 

 resistance. This tremendous brute was nearly 

 thirty feet in length and sixteen feet in circum- 

 ference, and his head alone weighed three 

 hundred pounds. 



A young girl, about thirteen years of age, was 

 washing a towel in a river frequented by alliga- 

 tors. She did not attend to a warning to beware 

 of them, and just as she was boasting that she 

 did not care for them, a scream for help was 

 heard, and a cry, " Lord, have mercy on me ! 



