THE ALLIGATOR'S LIFE HISTORY 33 



eight inches of water covering it, and as the water was 

 clear, its entire body was plainly seen. Harry wanted to kill 

 it, as he had never shot an alligator, so fired a couple of 

 loads of No. ten shot at its head as it lay under the water in 

 full view. We cauld see the shot marks on the alligator's 

 head, and we thought it had been killed, as it did not 

 move. Later that day, having hunted out the snipe grounds 

 on the side of the bayou we were on, I decided to cross and 

 hunt the far side. I told Harry how to use his legs to keep 

 from sinking too deep in the mud, and told him to go across 

 first, so that I could give him assistance if he needed it. 

 There was only about a foot and a half of water in the 

 bayou, but I knew the mud was quite deep. Harry started 

 across, but instead of spraddling and walking on his knees 

 with his legs at as near right angles to his body as possible; 

 he tried to step straight, and after a few steps was bogged 

 down to his crotch. I told him not to struggle, that I 

 would go down to where he had shot the alligator and push 

 it up to him and he could use it as a pry to lift himself on. 

 The alligator was only about twenty feet below us with the 

 head pointed upstream to where Harry was. I, knowing 

 how to walk the mud, had no fear of going into it and went 

 in just about mid-way to the alligator. On reaching it, 

 I put my hand on its hind leg and started shoving it towards 

 Harry. The alligator immediately began taking steps and 

 moving along in a very sluggish way. Meanwhile, I had 

 told Harry to throw his gun and hunting coat onto the bank 

 of the opposite side. When the alligator started crawling 

 slowly towards him, I said to him: "You did not kill the 

 'gator, and he is coming to you as fast as he can." This 

 frightened Harry very much, and in almost less time than 

 it takes to write it, he had dug himself out of the mud and 

 was flat on his stomach, going for the bank in exactly the 

 same position that the alligator was in. When he finally 

 got out, he was plastered with mud from the top of his head 

 to his feet. His hat was gone, and he was a most ludic- 



