WOODLAND PATHS 



neck, and that was all of him in sight. 

 The rest was concealed within a huge 

 mound of black, plated, horny shell that 

 was fourteen inches from side to side and 

 sixteen inches from front to back. These 

 were measurements which I took after I 

 had decided that he did not intend to eat 

 me right away, perhaps not at all. 



Chelydra serpentina, the snapping tur- 

 tle, or the alligator snapper, as he is some- 

 times called, and with reason, for, except 

 for his casing of shell, he is very like an 

 alligator, is not uncommon in the bog; 

 but I had never before seen so huge or so 

 ancient appearing a specimen. His black 

 shell was worn gray with age and bore 

 two deep scars where some sharp instru- 

 ment very like a spear had been jabbed 

 into his back. I suspect this to have been 

 an Indian spear, and I fully believe that 



my black dragon of the bog was a well- 

 216 



