THE SLAYING OF THE GREAT CROCODILE
I now bethought me of how I might best set about the task of
vanquishing the monster which held the Female Island in terror, and
which, from the description given me by the wise-ones, I judged to be a
crocodile. Nor in this was I mistaken, for, being taken by Sylvia to a
place of safety from which I could see the demon, I was confirmed in
the opinion I had formed by what I saw, although I had never seen a
crocodile of such amazing proportions before. It lived in a cave close
to a fertile plain, where goats belonging to the islanders were
pastured. Not far off was a stream at which it went to drink, and a
deep furrow in the sand marked the road it made to the water. During
the day it remained in its cave, but toward evening it would issue
forth and attack the goats, three or four of which it would kill, and
carry off to its lair. Those in charge of the goats dared not
interfere, lest the monster, deprived of its accustomed food, might
seek its dinner among the ruined stone houses in which the islanders
lived.
Now I noticed that the road along which the crocodile travelled to the
water was very deeply furrowed, thus proving how the great lizard had
repeatedly dragged its heavy bulk over the same spot on its way to
drink at the stream, and I bethought me of a plan to deal with the
reptile. The only weapon I had upon me when kidnapped from my ship was
a short sabre or manchette, which I wore as a sidearm. But this I hoped
would prove a formidable weapon when put to the use for which I now
intended it.
During the morning of the next day, when we knew that the crocodile
would be asleep in his cave, Sylvia and I went together to the road
which the reptile had made, by the weight of his body, to his usual
watering-place.
Here, with such rude implements as the islanders possessed, we dug a
trench the width of the road, and for some distance along it. At the
bottom of the trench we laid a stout log, in which was firmly fixed my
manchette, its sharp point upward. We then filled up the trench with
soft sand, and retired to the place of vantage which I had occupied the
previous day, and from which we could see the crocodile make his
evening raid. Towards sundown he came forth with a rush among the
terrified goats, four of which he slew with a stroke from his powerful
tail, after which he proceeded to drag their mangled carcases into his
lair. We waited an hour, when, just before sundown, the reptile came
forth again on his way to the water. We watched him with bated breath,
and Sylvia, who now, for the first time, began to understand the trap I
had set, could hardly contain her excitement. When the crocodile came
to the sand-pit we had dug on the road he sank down, when the sharp
blade of the manchette entered his breast, and as he dashed forward,
rove him to the navel, so that he died on the spot in the greatest
agony.
Sylvia now summoned the islanders to see my work. They came from all
parts, and raised so great a shout when they saw their enemy dead that
the sound of it reached the wise-ones on the mountain-tops, who peered
down at the beast where he lay in a morass of blood which deluged the
sand so that it ran into the stream, dyeing the water a deep red.
The death of the reptile, and the craft and cunning I had displayed in
the killing of it, so impressed the Amazons that they came to me in a
body, with Sylvia as their mouthpiece, asking me to stay and be their
king, nor did the wise-ones raise any objection to this proposal. But
although I admired Sylvia, I had no desire to spend the rest of my days
at Engano, not even as King of the Amazons. I therefore answered that
my comrades were no doubt looking for me, nor would they continue their
voyage home until all hope of my rescue had been abandoned, and I
reminded the wise-ones of the promise they had made me of safe conduct
back to my vessel, in case I should succeed in ridding the island of
their enemy. The justice of my claim was not to be denied, and with the
dawn of the morrow the wise-ones undertook to ascertain the direction
in which the ship lay and to send me aboard her.
That evening a feast was held in my honour; some of the men from the
Male Island came over, by special permission of the wise-ones, in order
to be present, and to see the man who had slain the monster against
which they had been unable to prevail.
The men from the Male Island I found to be as free from ill-will toward
one another as were the women on the Female Island. Since they had
neither wife nor child, they associated in pairs, and mutually rendered
each other all the services a master could reasonably expect from a
servant, being together in so perfect a community that the survivor
always succeeded his dead partner to any property he may have had.
They behave to each other with the greatest justness and openness of
heart. It is a crime to keep anything hidden. On the other hand, the
least pilfering is unpardonable, and punished by death. And indeed
there can be no great temptation to steal when it is reckoned a point
of honour never to refuse a neighbour what he wants; and when there is
so little property of value it is impossible there should be many
disputes over it. If any happened, the wise-ones interposed, and soon
put an end to the difference.
In all my travels I never met with happier or more gently disposed
persons than the people of the Male and Female Islands of Engano.