empty
bill, and then went off, with its clear, sharp, twittering note, as if
to console itself for the failure.

One day I was sitting on the high bank of the river, taking snap shots
with my gun at the large fish who were every now and then leaping out of
the water. A favorite spaniel was bringing a fish out of the water that
I had hit. It had swam already half way across the stream, when the
water about six yards below her became suddenly disturbed; and, to my
horror, up started the head and open jaws of an enormous crocodile. The
dog gave a loud shriek, and sprang half out of the water. The Mugger
swam rapidly, and had got within a yard of his intended victim, when I
raised my gun, and took aim at the monster's head. A thud, a splash, a
bubble, and a dusky red streak in the water, was all that ensued.
Presently, however, Juno's glossy black head emerged from the water;
and, to my delight, began to make rapid progress toward me, and landed
safely. The poor brute, wet and shivering, coiled herself up at my feet,
with her bright hazel eyes fixed on mine with ineffable satisfaction.
Poor Juno subsequently fell a victim to the Muggers, when her master was
not at hand to succor her. I mention these facts, to show that the
diabolical revenge with which I afterward assisted in visiting these
monsters, was not groundless. But the strongest occasion of it remains
to be told.

Just as the "rains" were beginning, my neighbor, Mr. Hall, sent me word
that he intended paying me a short visit, and requested me to send a
_syce_ (groom), with a saddle-horse, to meet him at a certain place on
the road. The syce, Sidhoo, was a smart, open-chested, sinewy-limbed
little fellow, a perfect model of a biped racer. He could run--as is the
custom in the East--alongside his horse at a pace of seven or eight
miles an hour, for a length of time that would astonish the best English
pedestrian I ever heard of.

Toward evening, Mr. Hall rode up to the bungalow, dripping with water,
and covered with mud. I saw at once that some accident had happened, and
hastened to assist him.

As soon as he got inside, he said, in answer to my bantering about his
"spill"--

"I am in no humor for jesting. Your syce is lost!"

"Drowned?"

"No; eaten!--by an enormous crocodile!"

He added that, on arriving at a small nulla about two miles off, he
found it so much swollen by rain, that he had to swim his horse across
it, holding one end of the cord which Sid