The carcass was lying within a few yards of the bank, where the water was extremely deep and clear.Several large trees grew close to the edge and formed a good hiding-place; I therefore landed, and, sending the canoe to a distance, I watched the water.
I had not been five minutes in this position before I saw in the water at my feet, in a deep hole close to the bank, the immense form of a crocodile as he was slowly rising from his hiding-place to the surface.
He appeared to be about eighteen feet long, and he projected his horny head from the surface, bubbled, and then floated with only his forehead and large eyes above the water.He was a horrible-looking monster, and from his size I hoped he was the villain that had committed the late depredations.He was within three yards of me; and, although I stood upon the bank, his great round eyes gazed at me without a symptom of fear.The next moment I put a two-ounce ball exactly between them, and killed him stone dead.He gave a convulsive slap with his tail, which made the water foam,, and, turning upon his back, he gradually sank, till at length I could only distinguish the long line of his white belly twenty feet below me.
Not having any apparatus for bringing him to the surface, I again took to the canoe, as a light breeze that had sprung up was gradually moving the carcass of the buffalo away.This I slowly followed, until it at length rested in a wide belt of rushes which grew upon the shallows near the shore.I pushed the canoe into the rushes within four yards of the carcass, keeping to windward to avoid the sickening smell.
I had not been long in this position before the body suddenly rolled over as though attacked by something underneath the water, and the next moment the tall reeds brushed against the sides of the canoe, being violently agitated in a long line, evidently by a crocodile at the bottom.
The native in the stern grew as pale as a black can turn with fright, and instantly began to paddle the canoe away.This, however, I soon replaced in its former position, and then took his paddle away to prevent further accidents.There sat the captain of the fragile vessel in the most abject state of terror.We were close to the shore, and the water was not more than three feet deep, and yet he dared not jump out of the canoe, as the rushes were again brushing against its sides, being moved by the hidden beast at the bottom.There was no help for him, so, after vainly imploring me to shove the canoe into deep water, he at length sat still.
In a few minutes the body of the buffalo again moved, and the head and shoulders of a crocodile appeared above water and took a bite of some pounds of flesh.I could not get a shot at the head from his peculiar position, but I put a ball through his shoulders, and immediately shoved the canoe astern.Had I not done this, we should most likely have been upset, as the wounded brute began to lash out with his tail in all directions, till he at length retired to the bottom among the rushes.
Here I could easily track him, as he slowly moved along, by the movement of the reeds.Giving the native the paddle, I now by threats induced him to keep the canoe over the very spot where the rushes were moving, and we slowly followed on the track, while I kept watch in the bow of the canoe with a rifle.
Suddenly the movement in the rushes ceased, and the canoe stopped accordingly.I leaned slightly over the side to look into the water, when up came a large air-bubble, and directly afterwards an apparition in the shape of some fifteen pounds of putrid flesh.The stench was frightful, but I knew my friend must be very bad down below to disgorge so sweet a morsel.I therefore took the paddle and poked for him; the water being shallow, I felt him immediately.Again the rushes moved; Ifelt the paddle twist as his scaly back glided under it, and a pair of gaping jaws appeared above the water, wide open and within two feet of the canoe.The next moment his head appeared, and the two-ounce ball shattered his brain.He sank to the bottom, the rushes moved slightly and were then still.
I now put the canoe ashore, and cutting a strong stick, with a crook at one end, I again put out to the spot and dragged for him.He was quite dead; and catching him under the fore-leg, I soon brought him gently to the surface of the water.I now made fast a line to his fore-leg, and we towed him slowly to the village, the canoe being level with the water's edge.
His weight in the water was a mere trifle, but on arrival at the village on the banks of the lake, the villagers turned out with great glee, and fastened ropes to different parts of his body to drag him out.This operation employed about twenty men.The beast was about fourteen feet long; and he was no sooner on shore than the natives cut him to pieces with axes, and threw the sections into the lake to be devoured by his own species.This was a savage kind of revenge, which appeared to afford them great satisfaction.
Taking a large canoe, I paddled along the shores of the lake with a shot-gun, and made a good bag of ducks and teal, and returned to breakfast.The fatness and flavour of the wild ducks in Ceylon are quite equal to the best in England.
