m as fighting with the dolphins, at the mouths of the Nile.
A prize had been offered for the first man who detected a crocodile, and
the crew had now been two days on the alert in search of them. Buoyed up
with the expectation of such game, we had latterly reserved our fire for
them exclusively; and the wild-duck and turtle, nay, even the vulture
and the eagle, had swept past, or soared above, in security. At length
the cry of "Timseach, timseach!" was heard from half-a-dozen claimants
of the proffered prize, and half-a-dozen black fingers were eagerly
pointed to a spit of sand, on which were strewn apparently some logs of
trees. It was a covey of crocodiles! Hastily and silently the boat was
run in shore. R. was ill, so I had the enterprise to myself, and
clambered up the steep bank with a quicker pulse than when I first
levelled a rifle at a Highland deer. My intended victims might have
prided themselves on their superior nonchalance; and, indeed, as I
approached them, there seemed to be a sneer on their ghastly mouths and
winking eyes. Slowly they rose, one after the other, and waddled to the
water, all but one, the most gallant or most gorged of the party. He lay
still until I was within a hundred yards of him; then slowly rising on
his fin-like legs, he lumbered towards the river, looking askance at me,
with an expression of countenance that seemed to say, "He can do me no
harm; however, I may as well have a swim." I took aim at the throat of
this supercilious brute, and, as soon as my hand steadied, the very
pulsation of my finger pulled the trigger. Bang! went the gun! whizz!
flew the bullet; and my excited ear could catch the _thud_ with which it
plunged into the scaly leather of his neck. His waddle became a plunge,
the waves closed over him, and the sun shone on the calm water, as I
reached the brink of the shore, that was still indented by the waving
of his gigantic tail. But there is blood upon the water, and he rises
for a moment to the surface. "A hundred piasters for the timseach," I
exclaimed, and half-a-dozen Arabs plunged into the stream. There! he
rises again, and the blacks dash at him as if he hadn't a tooth in his
head. Now he is gone, the waters close over him, and I never saw him
since. From that time we saw hundreds of crocodiles of all sizes, and
fired shots,--enough of them for a Spanish revolution; but we never
could get possession of any, even if we hit them, which to this day
remains doubtful