36 



RECREATION 



^r<*~~ 



THE BAITED LINE <3£ 



crab-car. Then we crossed the broad- 

 ening bayou to enter a labyrinth of 

 marshy waters hand- 

 somely lined with 

 flowering plants and 

 graceful reeds. Birds 

 and dragon-flies were 

 numerous, but the pesti- 

 ferous mosquito re- 

 mained at home to await 

 our return. I rowed 

 standing and looking 

 forward, talking freely 

 but careful not to vi- 

 brate the water b y 

 thumping the boat. 



At the first point we 

 rounded, a dark speck 

 moved slowly, then it 

 grew larger, showing an 

 unmistakable head. Beyond was a 

 beady length that sought the slielter of 

 the vegetation. John was not long get- 

 ting a shot and causing the 

 head to sink. Another small 

 target he missed clean. 



The darkness came and a 

 bull's-eye lantern, burning alli- 

 gator oil, was strapped to 

 John's forehead. It cast a 

 disk of radiance along the pla- 

 cid water and encircled a pair 

 of rubies. The gun thundered 

 and again scored a miss. Other 



JOH 



ruby eyes appeared and disap- 

 peared before I succeeded in 

 putting the shooter within a 

 yard of a dazed pair of glowing 

 optics. This time the reptile 

 was picked up, limp, and laid 

 in the bottom of the boat. I 

 had reason later to think him 

 a specimen of the rattlesnake 

 variety. 



Having witnessed the hunt 



and secured a model to draw 



from, we rowed homeward, or 



mosquito-net-ward. Suddenly 



there was a lively commotion in 



the obscure bottom of the boat 



— the alligator had come to life 



and was thrashing his tail. 



The lantern displayed him 



holding fast to a loose plank at my feet. 



Two cuts of the hatchet paralyzed him 



and were the only 



wounds visible at the 



skinning next day. 



While writing of 

 slaughter I might men- 

 tion the ninety mosqui- 

 toes found upon my pil- 

 low ; intruders through 

 a mesh as fine as cheese- 

 cloth. 



Of a hundred harm- 

 less, picturesque alliga- 

 tors I have seen, or 

 owned as pets, I must 

 plead guilty of having 

 hit one with a brick — 

 probably not hurting the 

 animal— of catching a 

 lively one in a seine and of shooting 

 several to secure one as a model from 

 which to draw. "There is no suffi- 



SIDE AND TOP VIEW OF THE LOWER JAW 



