CH. xxxn THE LORD OF THE RIVER 283 



station to sit with their rifles in wait for these 

 brutes, and scarcely an evening used to pass with- 

 out one of these amphibians being shot. 



Some years ago, I had rather a gruesome ex- 

 perience on the Upper Shire River. I had just 

 returned to camp from hunting in the vicinity, when 

 I was suddenly startled by a tremendous commotion 

 among my natives and those of a neighbouring 

 village, and above the hubbub I could hear the 

 strident voices of men and women, yelling 

 ' Ngwena ! Ngwena ! ' (Crocodile ! Crocodile !). 

 Concluding that someone had been taken by one of 

 these monsters, I seized my "303 and rushed to the 

 scene of the tumult. On the river bank, I found 

 a crowd of natives, all jabbering excitedly, and after 

 some inquiry, elicited the information that one of 

 their number, a woman, had gone down to draw 

 water, and while she was in the act of filling her 

 calabash, a crocodile had seized her by the hand 

 and endeavoured to pull her into the stream. 

 Fortunately, the woman had had the presence of 

 mind to clutch and hold on with her disengaged 

 hand to the reeds growing near her and to yell with 

 all her might for help, and luckily, too, the crocodile 

 had been a young one, or she would have been 

 dragged off without further ado. Some men and 

 women, who were in the vicinity, at once rushed to 

 her aid, and catching hold of her feet, strove to 



