THE ALLIGATOR NETTED. 165 



unbuttoned it from the net, and entered coolly 

 but slowly into the water just outside the 

 net, peering into the clear water. He then 

 managed to drop the noose so that the beast 

 put its fore-leg into it, and having gently 

 drawn it close, retired quietly out of the 

 water. Directly he was on shore, they called 

 to me, who was ten or twelve yards off, with 

 the lasso rather slack, to gallop up the slope, 

 while the axemen stood at the water's edg-e 

 with their axes uplifted, and the moment his 

 head appeared on the beach, they brained 

 him without resistance or even struggle. 



The horse pulled him on shore with scarcely 

 an effort, and without nearly the strain that 

 a yearling colt would have made; but if both 

 his fore-legs had been firm on the ground and 

 the lasso round his neck, I doubt a horse 

 being able to have pulled him up ; but with 

 one paw lifted up in the air, he had no 

 chance. 



The net had a fair quantity of fish in it, 

 and other pools were dragged with various 

 success, but no more alligators were netted 

 that day : the one killed was not large, and 

 was about nine feet in length. In the great 

 lake of Nicaragua and the river St. John's, 

 and, indeed, in all the rivers that run to the 



