156 
THE GOLDEN RIVER. 
stirred near us. Then Pedroso, in a low voice, 
said, ‘Look, look! ’ and we saw the round head 
of an otter swimming downstream. Almost as 
he spoke it dived, and was gone. At last the 
crackling of the bushes showed the approach of 
the hunting-party and the dog. They had seen 
nothing, and had had great difficulty in forcing 
their way through the mont6. 
We went back to the launch and breakfasted, 
whilst the last shreds of mist cleared off and the 
sun blazed down from a cloudless sky. The 
water was quite deep, and the Lelia was moored 
with her bows to the shelving sand. The Bird- 
Lover and I went off along the shore, to make 
notes of different birds, and we came back a 
little too soon for the success of a hoax the 
others had arranged meanwhile. Soon after 
we left, they had seen, in the bay, the two points 
almost level with the water that meant a 
crocodile, and the Irishman had fired twice, 
and wounded it. Then he and Pedroso dashed 
off in the canoe to where it was trying to escape, 
threshing the water to foam in its struggles. 
Another bullet or two still did not finish it off, 
and so, manoeuvring the canoe close alongside, 
they gaffed it, and with the greatest difficulty got 
a rope round it and hoisted it on board. Then 
they proceeded to arrange it beautifully, with 
open jaws, just where we should be stepping 
into the launch. But unfortunately we came 
round the corner too soon, whilst they were 
