rounded me. My eyes wandered over the islet;
every inch of it came under my glance; every object upon it was
scrutinised--the moulted feathers of wildfowl, the pieces of mud, the
fresh-water mussels (_unios_) strewed upon its beach--all were examined.
Still the barren answer--no means of escape.

"The islet was but the head of a sand-bar, formed by the eddy, perhaps
gathered together within the year. It was bare of herbage, with the
exception of a few tufts of grass. There was neither tree nor bush upon
it: not a stick. A raft indeed! There was not wood enough to make a
raft that would have floated a frog. The idea of a raft was but briefly
entertained; such a thought had certainly crossed my mind, but a single
glance round the islet dispelled it before it had taken shape.

"I paced my prison from end to end; from side to side I walked it over.
I tried the water's depth; on all sides I sounded it, wading recklessly
in; everywhere it deepened rapidly as I advanced. Three lengths of
myself from the islet's edge, and I was up to the neck. The huge
reptiles swam around, snorting and blowing; they were bolder in this
element. I could not have waded safely ashore, even had the water been
shallow. To swim it--no--even though I swam like a duck, they would
have closed upon and quartered me before I could have made a dozen
strokes. Horrified by their demonstrations, I hurried back upon dry
ground, and paced the islet with dripping garments.

"I continued walking until night, which gathered around me dark and
dismal. With night came new voices--the hideous voices of the nocturnal
swamp; the qua-qua of the night-heron, the screech of the swamp-owl, the
cry of the bittern, the cl-l-uk of the great water-toad, the tinkling of
the bell-frog, and the chirp of the savanna-cricket--all fell upon my
ear. Sounds still harsher and more, hideous were heard around me--the
plashing of the alligator, and the roaring of his voice; these reminded
me that I must not go to sleep. To sleep! I durst not have slept for a
single instant. Even when I lay for a few minutes motionless, the dark
reptiles came crawling round me--so close that I could have put forth my
hand and touched them.

"At intervals, I sprang to my feet, shouted, swept my gun around, and
chased them back to the water, into which they betook themselves with a
sullen plunge, but with little semblance of fear. At each fresh
demonstration on my part they showed less a