THE SEMINOLES. 185 



&quot;Ump, limp, ump, ump, limp !&quot; 



The evil-looking eyes again appeared, and the round 

 noses gave utterance to similar though louder sounds. 

 Up they came, silently, cautiously, till I counted twenty- 

 seven above the water of the little pond. Giving me 

 the line, Jim launched the harpoon at the side of the 

 largest. True as his aim always was the sharp head 

 pierced the reptile s side in its most vulnerable part, just 

 behind the fore-leg. A rush, a roar, as though all the 

 bulls of the prairie had united in one grand outburst, 

 and this king of Alpattiokee sped from one end to the 

 other of his small kingdom, making the water boil, and 

 leaving a bloody wake behind him. I have seen the 

 dolphin and porpoise cross and recross the bow of a 

 steamer at full speed, I have seen the shark and bluefish 

 in their most desperate rushes, but it did seem to me, 

 standing by that solitary creek in the soft moonlight, as 

 I slackened and tightened the line as the alligator alter 

 nately sulked and darted, that the remarkable speed of 

 those fishes was paralleled in the lightning-like rapidity 

 with which that huge serrated tail clove the water and 

 forced its owner onward. After a little while he got to 

 be somewhat exhausted, and I passed the line to the rest 

 of the party and seized the axe, to be ready for him as he 

 was drawn ashore. It was hard work even then to land 

 him on the soft sand, and he would throw that huge 

 tail around till it nearly touched his nose, and snap his 

 jaws till the night air resounded again. But, watching 

 my chance, I sunk the axe deep in his skull, and his 

 struggles ceased as the quivering paws clawed the sand 

 convulsively and then relaxed. We finished eight moro 

 before midnight. A ghastly spectacle they formed, 



