364 THRILLING ADVENTURES. 



curve of the bend. It unfortunately happened that the bank, 

 near to which the skins were floating, was too precipitous for 

 us to get near them, without starting the mugger from his 

 present position. With much labor, we detached some loose 

 sods from the top of the bank, ancl sent them with a' loud 

 splash into the water, directly over where we imagined him 

 to have taken up his quarters. This had the desired effect, 

 for the skins began to move slowly down the stream, as if 

 the mugger were crawling leisurely along the bottom. 



Leaving my brother with the coolies in charge of the bat- 

 tery, I ran on to where the bank was more shelving. By 

 good luck, the stream was rushing up, after its sudden sweep, 

 and sent a strong current against this bank. I had not waited 

 many minutes, before the skins came floating round the corner, 

 to where I was standing. I seized the one to which the wire was 

 attached, desiring my brother to charge the battery, and bring 

 it down. This he did much sooner than I could have ex- 

 pected ; for as the battery was now empty, one coolie was 

 able to carry it on his head, while my brother took the jar of 

 acid in his hand. It was evident from the motion of the other 

 skin in the water, that the mugger was still moving ; so no 

 time was to be lost. I made the connection with the battery 

 with one of the wires. In another instant the circuit was 

 complete, and the mugger's doom sealed. 



There was a momentary pause owing, I suppose, to some 

 slight loss of insulation in the wires then came the pre- 

 monitory shock ; then the rumble, the smoke, the sparks ; 

 and a great bloated mass of flesh and blood rose to the surface 

 of the water. Hall called out to us to drag it ashore, and see 

 whether we could get any trace of poor Sidhoo. We tried by 

 means of a bamboo pole to pull it to the bank ; but the glimpse 

 we got of it as it neared was so unutterably disgusting, that 

 we pushed it off again, and allowed it to float away down with 

 the current. 



