CROCODILES AND SHEEP 
391 
the middle of the wagons, which now came up. We had over¬ 
taken Grobelar’s other two wagons the previous day. Seizing a 
long rope we tied it to the heads of the leading oxen of the first 
span, and with this in our hands forded the river; By hauling at 
their heads we pulled the span with the wagon in their wake 
safely across, and the steep bank was negotiated with safety. 
Repeating this operation twice more, we got our caravan safely 
across before the rising river was too deep to interfere with us. 
Grobelar told- us that two years previous to this he was 
taking thirty-six merino sheep to Khama over this drift. The 
river was full at the time, and he was anxious to deliver them 
quickly, fearing that during any delay they might die on his 
hands. He packed them into an empty wagon, closed at both 
ends by a network of riems, which he tied across the openings 
to prevent the sheep from being washed out by the rapidly 
flowing deep water. As the wagon pushed down the steep bank 
on the Transvaal side, three of the sheep were precipitated into 
the stream, and carried away by the current, while now that 
the wagon was in the river he had to hurry the remainder 
across, and could not spare time just then to save those float¬ 
ing away. In a few moments he noticed a crocodile with its 
head exposed swim up from the mouth of the Mathlabaas 
river, two hundred and fifty yards below. It swam up stream, 
a good three-knot current at the time, with absolute ease, as 
if in still water, and approaching the drifting sheep with a 
spring that lifted its body nearly half out of the water, seized 
one and disappeared under the surface, holding the sheep in 
its jaws. A few yards below it appeared again to breathe, 
holding the sheep high out of the water, and then bobbed 
below again. This ducking it repeated until out of sight round 
the bend of the river. While Grobelar was shouting to his 
boys on the bank to get the guns and shoot the crocodile, 
another one stole out of the pool at the junction, and in the 
same manner swam off with another sheep. By this time the 
boys had got the guns and opened fire on crocodile number 
two, which they hit several times with bullets; but it held its 
