hoo, in common with most
Hindoos, wore coiled round his waist, and which was used in pulling
water from the deep wells of the country. Hall got safely across, and
then commenced pulling Sidhoo over by means of the cord. The black face,
with the white teeth and turban, were bobbing above the muddy water,
when all at once the groom threw up his arms, gave a loud shriek, and
sank below the surface. Mr. Hall, who had doubled the cord round his
hand, was dragged into the water; where he got a momentary glimpse of
the long serrated tail of a Mugger, lashing the water a short way ahead
of him. In his efforts to save himself, he lost his hold of the string,
and with much difficulty clambered up the slippery bank of the nulla.
All was now still. Only Sidhoo's turban was to be seen floating loosely,
a considerable way down the stream. Hall ran toward it, with the sort of
feeling which makes a drowning man catch at a straw; and, by means of a
stick he succeeded in fishing it out, and brought it with him, as the
only remnant of Sidhoo he could give an account of.

Bad news soon spreads in an Indian village, and Sidhoo's fate was soon
made known to his wife; and in a short time she came crying and sobbing
to the bungalow, and laid her youngest child at our friend's feet. The
tears glistened in the poor fellow's eyes as he tried to soothe and
console her; which he did by promising to provide for her and her
children.

Although Hall was generally running over with fun, we smoked our
cheroots that evening in silence; except when we proposed schemes for
the annihilation of the crocodiles. A great many plans were
discussed--but none that offered much chance of success. The next day,
after breakfast, I was showing my visitor a galvanic blasting apparatus,
lately received from England, for blowing up the snags (stumps of trees)
which obstruct the navigation of the river. I was explaining its mode of
action to him, when he suddenly interrupted me--"The very thing! Instead
of snags, why not blow up the Muggers?"

I confessed that there could be no reason why we should not blast the
Muggers. The difficulty was only how to manage it; yet the more we
talked of it, the more feasible did the scheme appear.

The brutes keep pretty constant to the same quarters, when the fish are
plentiful; and we soon ascertained that poor Sidhoo's murderer was well
known in the neighborhood of the nulla. He had on several occasions
carried off goats, sheep, p