teamed away! I'll bet you a million pounds they've killed
everybody--shot 'em, or burned 'em alive, or drowned 'em!"

"Did you hear me tell you to sit down? I'll tip you overboard and make
you swim for shore--d'ye see those crocodiles? Ugh! Look at the
brutes! In you go among the crocks if you don't sit down at once!"

Coutlass took no notice of the threat, but rocked the canoe recklessly
as he stood on tiptoe.

"Think of their gall! By Bacchus, they're steaming for British East!
I bet you five million pounds to a kick they think they've drowned the
lot of us! They're going to steam in and report the accident!"

We got him to sit down at last by ordering the paddlers nearest him to
throw him overboard, but nothing would stop his evil croaking any more
than flat refusal to admit the truth of what he gloated over lessened
our real conviction.

Long before we reached the dhow there was no room left for unbelief.
The stern planks were charred, but stood erect, unburned yet, and the
blue and white paint smeared on them was surely that of the Queen of
Sheba. When we came within fifty yards the water was full of loathsome
reptiles; our paddles actually struck them as they swarmed after the
prey, snapping at one another and at our canoes--long, slimy-looking
monsters, as able to smell carrion in the distance as kites are to see.

There were garments on the water--blankets--and one soaked, torn, lacy
thing that certainly had been a woman's. More than a dozen crocodiles
fought around that. We tried to go close enough to see whether there
were dead bodies in the dhow's charred hull, but as if the very ripple
from our paddles were the last straw, the wreck dipped suddenly ten
feet from us and plunged, the crocodiles following it down into deep
water with lashing tails--swifter than fish.

We paddled about for an hour in the blistering sun, searching stupidly
for what we knew we could never find; crocodiles remove traces of
identity more swiftly than kites and crows.

"I'll bet you they thought we were on board!" gleed Coutlass. "I'll
bet you they opened fire, and when we didn't answer came to the
conclusion we had no ammunition. Then they steamed close enough to
throw kerosene on board and light it! I bet you they steamed round and
round and watched the people jump as the flames drove them overboard!
Or d'you think they shot them all, and then threw them overboard and
fired the dhow? No--then they'd have known