ACROSS THE CONTINENT, WESTWARD TO COBAN. 75 
Our masts caught in a branch, and we were turned on 
our beam-ends. For an instant our situation was critical. 
Our weather-rail was six inches under water, and we 
were clinging to the other side as the water came pour¬ 
ing in; then the .mainmast slipped, and we righted, all 
hands bailing out eagerly, while Frank held by some 
branches and prevented a repetition of the disaster. If 
the canoa had upset, our journey would probably have 
ended there, as our photographic supplies would have 
been ruined, and there would have been little chance for 
us in that deep, rapid river, with no banks, and no trees 
that offered food, even if they gave us shelter from the 
alligators; and these too would have shown themselves 
as soon as the disturbance caused by the steamer had 
abated. Our Carib captain was as frightened as we were, 
and with the little English he knew, exclaimed as we 
anchored for the night : “ D—d good boat; would n’t sell 
her for h—11!” The persons on the “ City of Belize” 
must have seen us filling, but they did not stop to see if 
we drowned. 
All night we had mosquitoes, but no rain; and to our 
wakeful excitement was added the horrible noises of 
tigres, wild hogs, monkeys, alligators, and other animals. 
We were getting tired of the river, and our voyage 
seemed interminable. Early in the morning we passed 
the mouth of the Rio Cahabon, where the steamer had 
anchored the night before, and soon after I shot my first 
alligator. He was a large one, and my ball struck him 
just behind the foreleg. He jumped clear of the water, 
turned over, and fell back, tingeing the river with blood. 
We thought we had counted twice the seventy-two 
vueltas in the fifty miles between the mouth of the river 
