one of the saurians, his
attention was drawn to another, between the steamer and the shore,
apparently quite unconscious that the vessel could injure it in the
least.

Judging from the size of the head, this was apparently the largest
crocodile that had been seen; and taking long and careful aim, Captain
Smithers at last fired, when the monster lashed the water furiously for
a few moments with its tail.

"He's hit, and badly," said Doctor Bolter. "It's a big one, too. What
a splendid specimen it would make!"

As he spoke, his words as to the size of the creature were verified, for
the crocodile suddenly shot itself half out of the water, showing its
head, shoulders, and a good deal of its horny back, before turning over
and diving down, displaying its hind legs and tail before it
disappeared.

"That was eighteen feet long if it was an inch," said the doctor,
excitedly; "but he has gone to the bottom."

"Yes," said Captain Smithers, quietly reloading, "we shall not see it
again. How is your patient, Bolter?"

"Oh, pretty well all right again, thanks. It was a lucky escape for the
poor fellow."

"Very!" said Captain Smithers, thoughtfully. "What bird is that,
doctor?"

"A white eagle," was the reply, as the doctor followed with his glasses
the flight of a magnificent bird that rose from a stunted tree, flew
across the river, and away over the mangroves on the other side.

Soon after, as the steamer still made its way onward in mid-stream, the
river being very deep, as shown by the man busy in the chains with the
lead, a flame of blue suddenly seemed to dart from a mangrove root, and
then another and another, as some of the gorgeously-coloured kingfishers
of the peninsula shot off along the surface up the stream.

On still, and on, with every one on board eagerly on the look-out for
novelties, but all growing somewhat tired of the unbroken succession of
dull green mangroves. At last, however, after many hours of slow and
cautious progress, the mangroves gave place to tall and beautiful palms,
showing evidently that the steamer was now beyond the reach of the tide;
and this was farther proved by the fact that the stream was now dead
against them, running pretty swiftly, but, in place of being muddy,
delightfully clear.

Faces that had looked long and solemn as the supposition had grown
stronger that the country was nothing better than a mangrove swamp,
became more cheery of aspect, especially when, thro