On The Day Following Our Arrival At The Atbara, We
Found That Our Camel-Drivers Had Absconded During The Night With
Their Camels; These Were The Men Who Had Been Forced To Serve By
The Governor Of Cassala.
There was no possibility of proceeding
for some days, therefore I sent El Baggar across the river to
endeavour to engage camels, while I devoted myself to a search
for the crocodile.
I shortly discovered that it was unfair in the
extreme to charge one particular animal with the death of the two
Arabs, as several large crocodiles were lying upon the mud in
various places. A smaller one was lying asleep high and dry upon
the bank; the wind was blowing strong, so that, by carefully
approaching, I secured a good shot within thirty yards, and
killed it on the spot by a bullet through the head, placed about
an inch above the eyes.
After some time, the large crocodiles, who had taken to the water
at the report of the gun, again appeared, and crawled slowly out
of the muddy river to their basking-places upon the bank. A
crocodile usually sleeps with its mouth wide open; I therefore
waited until the immense jaws of the nearest were well expanded,
showing a grand row of glittering teeth, when I crept carefully
towards it through the garden of thickly-planted cotton. Bacheet
and Wat Gamma followed in great eagerness. In a short time I
arrived within about forty yards of the beast, as it lay upon a
flat mud bank formed by one of the numerous torrents that had
carried down the soil during the storm of yesterday.
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