The river soon grew broader and calmer, and in half an hour they came to
the place where they were to remain, and cast anchor.

Harry went ashore with his rifle, in hopes of a shot at the amphibious
creatures, and his fishing tackle to keep him in patience while he was
waiting for it. Hassib accompanied him to point out the place he had
mentioned where the monsters were wont to lie.

For some time he got neither a shot nor a bite; but presently there came
a tremendous tug at his line. The fish tugged, and Harry tugged, and
the line being strong enough to hold a whale nearly, it seemed to be a
question whether Harry pulled the fish out, or the fish pulled Harry in.
In fact it was a regular tug of war.

Harry was the victor, and his opponent came to bank with a bound and
flop.

"By jove! I have got a crocodile after all!" cried Harry, jumping back,
as a hideous thing four feet long, and having the same number of legs,
and a tail, seemed making towards him. The reis, laughing in a manner
most contrary to our notions of the staid impassive Arab, began
hammering the creature with a stick, until it lay quiet enough.

"What is it?" asked the captor, approaching cautiously.

"A big lizard," replied Hassib, "so your learned white men say;
`alligator lizard' I heard one call it. But it is really a thing that
comes out of an addled crocodile's egg."

Harry looked up quickly, but the reis was perfectly grave. And on such
occasions he always pretended to believe, whether he did or no. Hassib
was quite confident of the correctness of his information, and how could
it be disproved, or, for that matter, why should it be?

The sun was now very low on the horizon, and would soon take its sand-
bath. Hassib laid his hand on Forsyth's arm and ducked behind a mound
on the edge of the bank. Harry did the same.

"One, two, five, seven," counted Hassib. Harry peeped, and saw that
mystic number of grey crocodiles lying on the island where he had been
looking for them.

The nearest was about two hundred yards off. By stalking him along the
bank, as he was not quite opposite, he got perhaps thirty yards nearer.
As has been said, he was a really first-rate rifle-shot, and the
prospects of that crocodile could not be considered rosy.

Scales are hard, but so are conical bullets. Harry took a steady aim at
what he had been taught to consider the most vulnerable part get-at-
able, and pulled. Crack! Smack! He heard the ball