ddle, and relieved the strain on the crocodiles. The steamer
backed at the order of the captain; and a strong line was thrown into
the sampan, which one of the Malays seized and made fast.

When the strain upon them was thus removed, the saurians made violent
struggles to escape. The yacht then went ahead again, and the speed-bell
was rung immediately. The pressure on the game was renewed, and they
ceased to struggle. The apparatus held fast, for the saurian fishers
were experienced in their business, and had done their work well.

At eight o'clock the Blanchita reached the mouth of the river. The
crocodiles were not dead, but their stomachs must have been in a
terrible condition. To Louis it seemed to be cruel to prolong their
sufferings; and he wished Achang to request the Malays to kill them, and
Scott agreed with him. The Bornean said they could not kill them while
they were towing behind, and that, if the lines were slacked, they might
get away.

The captain took the matter in hand, and told Achang what he intended to
do, which he communicated to the reptile-hunters. On the starboard hand
Scott fixed his gaze on a small tongue of land extending out into the
river. Taking the wheel himself, he run her close to the land some
distance above the point, and worked the sampan and its tow close to the
shore. The tow-line of the sampan was then lengthened out to a hundred
feet or more, and the yacht went ahead again, rounding the point, so
that the peninsula lay between the steamer and her tow.

Then she went ahead again, and the result was that she pulled the sampan
upon the point; and as she was flat-bottomed, there was no difficulty in
doing so. The Blanchita continued on her course, and the two crocodiles
were landed after her. One of the Malays then produced a parong latok;
and even more skilfully than Achang had done the job, he cut off the
heads of both reptiles. They were out of misery then, and Louis was
satisfied.

The yacht was then run up to the point, and Lane was sent on shore to
measure the reptiles, while the fishermen proceeded to recover the
apparatus from the stomachs of the defunct reptiles. The larger
crocodile was twelve feet and four inches long, and the other ten feet
and seven inches. The voyage was resumed on the sea to the mouth of the
Sadong; and in three hours more she entered the stream, which was a
large one, averaging half a mile wide for twenty miles.

"Bujang!" called Achang, as inst