SECOND EXPEDITION TO EAST AFRICA 203 



bank. The man, when seized, uttered an appalUng 

 yell, which awakened me and roused the whole 

 camp. He was a big, powerful man, and in the 

 deeper water under the right bank he recovered 

 his feet and tried to climb up the bank. A regu- 

 lar tug of war followed between him and the 

 crocodile, which must have been a comparatively 

 small one, as the man held his own fairly well 

 in the struggle, yelling with agony and fear all 

 the time. The water, even under the right bank, 

 was not more than four or five feet deep, but the 

 crocodile kept under water and did not show 

 itself. The other negro, who was in the water, 

 fled in terror when his comrade was seized. I 

 shouted for my rifle, but, just as Saasita put the 

 •450 into my hand, one of the Askaris fired his 

 Martini. The shot nearly hit the man, but had 

 the effect of making the crocodile let go, and 

 the man crawled up the bank. His hand, wrist, 

 and a great part of the forearm was terribly 

 crushed and mangled and presented a gruesome 

 spectacle. The man was a Wakamba ; and, 

 after some more shots had been fired into the 

 water to frighten away the crocodile, my mule 

 attendant, who was also a Wakamba, waded 

 across the river and fetched the man back. The 

 man's forearm was in a dreadful state, and 

 Gimlette proposed to amputate it. At first the 

 man would not hear of this, but after two days 

 gangrene set in, and he then agreed, merely 

 stipulating that he might be allowed as long a 

 stump as possible. The man was put under an 

 anaesthetic ; and Gimlette, with some assistance 

 from Abdu, amputated the forearm below the elbow 



