20 WILD SPORTS IN THE SOUTH. 



I was visiting a friend some years ago who lived on one of the 

 many banks of the Alabama on the Gulf coast, and whose plantation 

 was intersected by several little creeks. One of these inlets was 

 quite near the house, and the morning after my arrival, while 

 dressing at my window, I saw a large alligator crawl out of the 

 water and settle himself down on the grassy bank on the other 

 side of this creek. Between the house and the creek was a rice 

 field, and the rice bank built along this inlet intercepted all view 

 except from the upper part of the house, so I would have an easy 

 approach. 



I seized my double-barrel shot gun, loaded with the heaviest 

 shot I could find in my room, descended the stairs, and made my 

 way across the rice-field to the rice bank, and there lay my prize 

 on the other side of the narrow creek, wholly unconscious of his 

 fate. He was a huge beast, with scales glistening in the rising 

 sun, and his big yellow eye shining like a golden pippin. After a 

 moment's survey, and a mental congratulation that there was a 

 creek separating me from the monster, I took aim at the largest 

 part of his body and fired. I heard a splash in the water, and 

 when the smoke cleared away the waves showed me the spot 

 where my friend had disappeared, and after waiting some time to 

 see if he would float ashore dead, I gave it up and went back. As 

 I entered the house a dozen grinning rows of teeth appeared at 

 the kitchen window, where the negroes were enjoying the spectacle 

 of my skill in hunting. 



At breakfast my friends questioned me about my shot, which 

 they had evidently heard of from the servants, and I learned, for 

 the first time, that I could only kill the alligator with a ball, and 

 even with that it was no certain matter. I also was informed that 

 this particular alligator had frequented that spot for several years, 

 and was well known on the plantation by the name of John Bull 



The next morning as I rose I incontinently cast my eye over 

 to the bayou, and there, in the full enjoyment of the glories of the 

 sunrise, lay my yesterday's acquaintance. It did not take me 

 three minutes to get into my clothes and down to the rice bank. 

 I saw the grinning waiters at the door, but I did not care, for I 

 was armed with a rifle and sure of my game. I took a rest on the 



