50 BAITING FOR AN ALLIGATOR. 



him rise to the top of the water when he thought the 

 coast was clear ; but, as we waited a long time without 

 any result, we proposed what certainly was a most nefa- 

 rious project, namely, to make the boy strip off his clothes 

 and start him into the water again as a bait for the alli- 

 gator. It was some time before we could get the boy to 

 come round to our view of the matter : his objections to 

 our plan were very strong, and his master's threats failed' 

 completely, as indeed they generally did, for he was the 

 kindest hearted man in the world to his negroes. At last 

 I coaxed him with a bright new dollar. This inducement 

 prevailed over his fears, and the poor boy began to un- 

 dress, his eyes all the while reverting alternately from 

 the water to the dollar, and from the dollar to the water. 

 We told him we did not want him to go in so deep as to 

 be obliged to swim. l By golly, then, me go for dollare ;' 

 and in he walked, but had hardly reached water higher 

 than his knees, when crash went the reeds, and the little 

 fellow cut in towards our place of concealment at an as- 

 tonishing pace, pursued by the alligator. The savage 

 beast, as before, came right out on the bank, where we 

 nailed him with two capital shots through the head that 

 effectually checked his career. He struggled violently, 

 but uselessly, to regain his congenial element, and after 

 two or three furious lashes of his ponderous tail, sullenly 

 expired. The triumph of the boy was complete ; had he, 



