s. Paddy Adair and several
of the men on this instantly leaped out, but sank very nearly up to
their middles in slime and water. With their weight, however, out of
her the boat floated, and the rest standing up and shoving at the same
time, they got her a little way down the stream. Paddy, who was always
ready to do anything, however unpleasant, for the sake of setting an
example, continued in the water shoving the boat along; the black banks
on either side showing the importance of getting out of the trap into
which they had gone as quickly as possible.

"Jump in Adair--jump in--she'll freely swim now," said Hemming.

"We'll just get her past this log of wood and give her a shove off from
it," said Paddy, making a spring on a dark brown object close to them.
He jumped off again, however, very much faster, and sprang towards the
boat, for the seeming log opened a huge pair of jaws, exhibiting a
terrific row of teeth, with which it made a furious snap at the
midshipman's legs. Happily Mr Hemming, leaning over, caught him by the
arm and dragged him in, while one of the men gave the monster a rap with
the end of his oar, which somewhat distracted his attention, and allowed
the rest of the men to scramble on board, which they did in a very great
hurry, and no little consternation exhibited in their looks. The
alligator first vented his rage by gnawing the blade of the oar, and
then made a terrific rush at the boat.

"Shove away, my lads--shove away," cried Hemming, not wishing to waste
time in a contest with the beast.

The men, standing up, urged on the boat with their oars as fast as they
could; but the savage brute still followed, biting at the blades and
trying to get in between them. Terence, however, who very speedily
recovered from his alarm, seized a musket, and, watching for the moment
when the alligator next opened his huge mouth, fired right down it.

"A hard pill that to digest, if it does not kill him," cried Paddy, when
he had done the deed.

At first the brute seemed scarcely aware that anything unusual had gone
down his throat; but, as he was making another dart at the boat, he
suddenly began to move about in an eccentric way--as Paddy said, "as if
something troubled him in his inside," and then, turning away, buried
his huge body in the mud, while his tail lashed the water into foam.
Round the spot above where his head was probably hidden, a red circle
was formed, which, whirling round in the ed