XVIII ADVENTURE WITH A CROCODILE 231 



clean out of Abbudi's hand, as well as out of his own 

 back, and flung it yards away to the bottom of 

 the river ! 



I never in all my life saw such an astonished 

 and crestfallen expression as appeared on Abbudi's 

 face, and indeed it was no wonder, for the rapidity 

 with which the brute had turned on him was 

 incredible. His position was now highly dangerous, 

 but before the crocodile could whip round again to 

 make a second grab, I put another couple of 

 bullets into his spine, thus rendering him quite 

 helpless. 



In the midst of all this excitement, and while 

 the crocodile was lashing about and snapping his 

 vice-like jaws, Mrs. B., forgetting that she was 

 still an invalid, jumped on to the branch beside 

 Abbudi to get a better view of what was going 

 on. This was a most unwise proceeding, but fortu- 

 nately the reptile was too badly hit to be able to 

 do any damage. 



As soon as he was quite dead we had a rope 

 fastened round him, and with the aid of a dozen 

 willing hands hauled him up out of the river. The 

 most extraordinary part of the whole occurrence then 

 happened, for when we opened him up, we found 

 inside him the half of a freshly-eaten impala! 

 There was no doubt that it was the one which I had 

 shot and which had disappeared so mysteriously 



