ADVENTURE M^ITH A CROCODILE 185 



that we should assail the enemy at close quarters. The 

 calibre of the rifle was 22 ; its velocity most humble, the 

 bullet of soft lead. Unless it entered the eye of the 

 crocodile, and thence by luck its small brain, there was no 

 hope of fatal effects. Yet to take home such a rare trophy 

 as a crocodile's skull, never before known or heard of on 

 the island, was a hope sufficient to evoke and steady the 

 instincts to be called upon as a necessary preliminary. 



" Paddy " armed himself with weighty stones, and so 

 manoeuvring to cut off the creature's retreat to the sea, we 

 silently and with the utmost caution advanced. 



Here let me advise readers to call to memory Nathaniel 

 Parker Willis's poem, " The Declaration " beginning — 



" 'Twas late, and the gay company was gone, 

 And light lay soft on the deserted room," 



and ending : 



She had been asleep." 



The crocodile moved not as we, thirsting for its blood, 

 stealthily approached. Then as I raised the rifle " Paddy " 

 tilted up his much-flattened nose, sniffed, and in tragic 

 whisper said — " Dead ! " 



At all times a crocodile has a characteristic odour, a 

 combination of fish and very sour and stale musk, but 

 Paddy smelt more than the familiar scent — the scent of 

 carrion. 



Most unworthy of mortals, we had found the rarest of 

 unprecious things — a crocodile that had died a natural 

 death. Apparently a day, or at the most a day and a half, 

 had elapsed since the creature had laid its head under the 

 shadow of the boulder and died, far from accustomed 

 haunts and kin. There was no sign of wound, bruise or 

 putrefying sore. All the teeth were perfect. It seemed 

 like a crocodile taking its rest, with its awful stench 

 around it. 



With poles we levered the body out of the way of the 

 tide. Months after, when Nature had done her part in the 

 removal of all fleshy taint, we returned for the bones. The 



