556 BIG GAME OF NORTH AMERICA. 



uriating in the morning sunshine just reaching them over 

 the tops of the tall pines and. cabbage palmettos. Confi- 

 dent of success, with so many in sight, we pulled for them 

 in a boat; but, one by one, as we glided almost near enough, 

 sunk slowly beneath the water, leaving but the vanish- 

 ing ripple to mark the place where each went down. 

 Finally, despairing of finding any asleep, blind, or absent- 

 minded, I landed, leaving W and the ladies in the boat, 



fishing. After creeping through a hummock of live oak, 

 cabbage palmetto, and undergrowth, I came to a more open 

 growth of pines and saw-palmetto, where I could get a view 

 of the lake; and on looking down the shore, saw, just off 

 a point of land, a half-dozen suspicious-looking objects. 

 Making a detour back from the shore, I crept through the 

 palmettos toward the point. On arriving at the shore, and 

 cautiously looking over my cover, I saw the heads of six 

 of the great saurians, all within one hundred yards of 

 where I stood. Having always heard that the eye is the 

 proper place in which to shoot a ' Gator, I picked out the 

 largest, and aiming for his visual organ, fired, only to see 

 him start off for deep water at a rapid rate. I kept on 

 pumping balls from the Winchester until I had fired seven 

 shots, when he halted, lashed the water with his tail, raised 

 his head, shook it in a tragic way, and sunk. 



Having to give him up, I soon found others; and by 

 repeating my stalking, got within fifty yards of two, who 

 discovered me at the same moment, and made such haste to 

 leave as to forget to take their heads under water. At the 

 first shot, the farther one sunk dead; at the second, the 

 nearest one rolled over, raised one fore leg above the water, 

 and waved it in a manner so suggestive of " Good-bye, 

 Brother Watkins,'' that I thought he too was dead. No 

 boat being near, and fearing that he would soon sink, I con- 

 cluded to wade in and float him ashore. As I intended to 

 prepare his skin for mounting, I did not want to tear up 

 his skull with any more bullets; so, leaving my rifle on the 

 high ground, and cutting a green pine sapling, about three 

 inches in diameter, to use in case of necessity, I waded con- 



