CROCODILE CATCHING. 83 



worried and shaken like a rat by a terrier, and 

 would drown before my eyes in the crocodile's 

 embrace. But no such thing happened. Manap 

 grasped the point of the long narrow head with 

 one hand, and with the other rapidly wound the 

 cord round the clenched mouth, ending it off with 

 a half -hitch knot. The extraordinary thing was that 

 while Manap did this, though the time as a matter 

 of fact was only three or four seconds, the crocodile 

 remained comparatively still. The front feet, it is 

 true, clawed wildly at the canoe's side, but they 

 could not reach Manap's hands. The surging, swirl- 

 ing turmoil ceased, and from the moment that the 

 cord had just been slipped round its jaws the 

 crocodile appeared to give up all heart. No sooner 

 was the knot tied round the crocodile's mouth than 

 Manap produced another cord and slipped it over 

 a fore-leg. Pulling the leg up to the animal's side, 

 he then slipped the line over its back and caught 

 up the other fore-leg with it. He pulled the two 

 fore-legs together over the crocodile's back as far as 

 he could, and, passing the cord round them once or 

 twice, tied it in a knot. With a third cord he 

 noosed and tied together the two hind-legs. 

 " Sudan," he said. " That is finished." 

 What he had effected was perfectly marvellous. 

 In two minutes he had transformed a ravening 

 water-devil into a trussed-up monstrosity, and his 

 only weapon had been three pieces of box -cord. 

 The furious monster that, all open mouth, whirl- 

 ing tail, and outspread claws, had bent itself into 

 strenuous coils like the Dragon of China, now lay 



