284 ADVENTURES OF AN ELEPHANT HUNTER ch. 
wrest her from the reptile’s grasp. An awful tug- 
of-war now ensued, and in the struggle, the child, 
which the poor woman was carrying tied to her 
back, fell into the water. Like a flash, the 
crocodile let go his hold upon the woman’s hand, 
seized the child in his jaws and disappeared, and 
the dark, swift waters of the Shire mercifully hid 
the remainder of the tragedy from the distraught 
mother’s eyes. 
Hardly had this awful drama b^en concluded, 
when one of the villagers, who at times suffered 
from fits of dementia and had, on such occasions, 
to be kept under constraint, appeared on the scene. 
Brandishing a spear above his head, he kept calling 
out, ‘ Where is the crocodile ? Where is the 
crocodile ? ’ and before any of his fellows could 
restrain him, he had rushed headlong into the river. 
In a moment, a crocodile seized him by the waist, 
another by the head and shoulders, and a terrible 
struggle ensued, crocodiles rushing from all sides, as 
if eager for the fray—the very water seemed to 
seethe with them. The native fought as only a 
madman can fight, but, naturally, such a conflict 
was bound to be brief, and when I arrived on the 
actual scene it was difficult to distinguish man 
from beast. Firing quickly, I managed to kill 
several of the brutes, but could not prevent the 
others from dragging the poor fellow under water 
