A CROCODILE 



flowing. But the plain proved far larger than I had 

 at first anticipated, and noon was already passed by 

 the time that the foothills were reached. Here I 

 rested, although the thorn trees afforded but scanty 

 shade. After a hurried and uninviting lunch of dried 

 dates, I started off again, climbed over the outlying 

 spur that stretched between me and the Uaso Nyiro, 

 and clambered down the other side, reachinof a 

 beautiful clump of palms where the river ran between 

 low red sandbanks. 



On a minute island in the centre of the stream I 

 saw a large crocodile ; so, sitting down, I took a long 

 shot at him as he lay sleeping in the sun. He never 

 moved except for a few quick movements of the tail, 

 but I saw the blood streaming from his mouth. 

 While waiting for the camels, the porters soon 

 dragged him to shore. He proved to be of a fair 

 size, some 12 feet long, but small compared to 

 the monsters that haunt the Tana River. The 

 bullet had entered through the right shoulder, and 

 passing diagonally through and slightly upwards, 

 had torn an enormous hole in the neck and throat, 

 and had finally lodged in the brain. He was soon 

 tied on to a camel, and the skin was later taken off 

 and preserved. 



Although this spot would have made an ideal 

 camp, I decided to continue, much to the disgust of 

 my men, who disliked such hard marching. Having 

 entered a well-mapped region, I was no longer in the 

 hands of my guides, and led the way myself. I was 

 thus able to cover much more ground than I had 

 done before. I intended to reach the river again 

 where it flowed between two low hills, but night fell 

 as I was crossing the plain that lay between, so I 



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