BLOWING UP A CROCODILE. 363 



dampened about a week afterwards, when we received the 

 mortifying announcement, that Sidhoo's mugger was still alive, 

 and on his old beat apparently uninjured. It was evident 

 we had blasted the wrong mugger ! We consoled ourselves 

 with the reflection that if he were not Sidhoo's murderer, it 

 was very likely he was not wholly innocent of other atrocities, 

 and therefore deserved his fate. 



Of course it was impossible to rest while Sidhoo's mugger 

 remained alive, so we were not long in preparing for a second 

 expedition. This time we took the precaution of not charg- 

 ing the battery until we were certain that the bait was swal- 

 lowed. The acid, diluted to the necessary strength, was 

 therefore carried in one of those brown earthenware jars 

 called gray-beards, which had come out to us full of Glenlivet 

 whiskey. We commenced dragging the kid up the stream, 

 as before; but having walked more than a mile without 

 getting a bite, we were getting rather disheartened, and sat 

 down to rest, struck a light, and smoked a cheroot. Hall lay 

 down, having manufactured an impromptu easy-chair out of 

 his coil of rope, with the inflated goat-skin placed above it. 

 My brother was not long in imitating his example, and I lay 

 down under the shade of some reeds, near the water's edge. 

 The heat was oppressive and we were discussing the proba- 

 bility of getting a bite that day, and lamenting that we had 

 not brought some pale ale along with us, when, all at once, I 

 got a sharp blow on the leg, while my brother came spinning 

 down the bank like a teetotum ; a companion picture to Hall, 

 who was revolving down the opposite bank. The ropes and 

 skins went rushing down the nullah at a tremendous pace. As 

 soon as we recovered from the laughter into which we were 

 thrown by this droll contretemps, we set off in pursuit, guided 

 by the track which the inflated skins made in the water. On 

 they went, dashing from side to side, as they had done in our 

 first attempt. On coming to a place where the nullah made 

 a sharp turn, they stood under the high bank, on the inner 



