FISHING WITH A WORM
"I say, Sree, hadn't you and your fellows better have a wash?" said
Harry, as soon as Mr. Kenyon had re-entered the bungalow to go to his
office on the other side for his regular morning work connected with
the dispatching of rice and coffee down to the principal city.
"What good, Sahib?" said the man, looking up with so much wonder in
his amiable, simple face, that both Phra and Harry burst out laughing,
in which the men joined.
"Why, you are all so dirty, and you smell nasty and musky of that
great snake."
"But we are going to skin it, Sahib, and we shall be much worse then."
"Oh yes, I forgot," said Harry.
"When we have done we shall all bathe and be quite clean, and go and
thank the good Sahib before we depart."
He said a few words to his two men, and, gun in hand, the boys walked
with them towards the boa, when a thought occurred to Harry.
"I say," he cried, "mind what you are about when you bathe, for
there's a crocodile yonder, half as long again as that snake."
"Ah!" ejaculated the man, "then we must take care."
"So will we, Phra. We'll look out for him and try and get a shot."
"A big one?" said the Siamese lad.
"Yes, I think it is the biggest I have seen."
"Then we'll shoot him. But how bad you have made me! Before we became
friends I followed our people's rule--never killing anything. Now this
morning I am going to try and kill a crocodile, after helping to kill
a snake."
"Well," said Harry, "I don't care about arguing who's right, but it
seems to be very stupid not to kill those horrible great monsters
which drag people who are bathing under water and eat them, and to be
afraid to kill a tiger that springs upon the poor rice and coffee
growers at the edges of the plantations."
"So it does," said Phra, with a dry look; "and I am trying not to be
stupid. All, look there!"
Harry was already looking, for as one of the men took hold of the
serpent's tail, in order to drag it down to the landing-place, it was
snatched away, then raised up and brought down again heavily to lie
heaving and undulating, the movement being continued right up to the
head.
"You don't seem to have killed that," said Harry drily.
"No," replied Phra; "but I will," and he cocked his gun.
But Sree addressed a few words to him in his native tongue, and the
lad nodded.
"What does he say?" asked Harry; "he can kill it more easily, without
spoiling the skin?"
"Yes. Look. What a while these things take to die!"
"My father says that at home in England the country people say you
can't kill a snake directly. It always lives till the sun sets."
"You haven't got snakes like that in England?"
"Oh no; the biggest are only a little more than a yard long."
"But how can they live like that? What has the sun to do with it?"
"Nothing. Father says it's only an old-fashioned superstition."
"Look! Sree's going to kill the snake now. He's a bad Buddhist."
"Never mind; he's a capital hunter. See what splendid things we've
found when we've been with him," said Harry enthusiastically. "He
seems to know the habits of everything in the jungle."
Harry ceased speaking, for Sree drew a knife from its sheath in the
band of his sarong, or padung, whetted it on one of the stones of the
rockery, and went to the head of the serpent, which was moving gently.
Sree bent down, extending his left hand to grip the reptile softly
behind the head, and give it a mortal wound which would afterwards
serve as the beginning of the cut to take off the beautifully marked
skin.
But at the first touch, the reptile seemed to be galvanized into life,
and coiling and knotting itself up, it began to twine and writhe with
apparently as much vigour as before receiving the shots.
"Did you ever see such a brute?" cried Harry. "Take care, or you'll
lose him."
"Oh, no, Sahib; I will not do that. Only let me get one cut, and I
will soon make him still."
He waited for a few minutes till the reptile straightened itself out
again, and then at a sign the two men followed their leader's example,
throwing themselves down upon the fore part of the boa, which began to
heave again, the lower part of the body writhing and flogging the
earth.
But Sree was quite equal to the occasion. He had pinned the reptile's
neck down with one hand, and managed to hold it till with all the
skill of an old huntsman, he had slit up the skin, inserted his knife,
and cleverly divided the vertebrae just behind the creature's head.
The moment this was done the tremendous thrashing of the tail part
began to grow less violent, then grew more gentle still, and finally
it lay undulating gently.
"He will die now," said the man, and the long, lithe body was dragged
to the bottom of the garden and stretched out on the bamboo
landing-stage beneath the attap roofing.
As soon as this was done, the three men went down to the water's edge,
stripped off their sarongs, washed them, and spread them in the hot
sun to dry, while, gun in hand, the two lads stood carefully scanning
the river in search of enemies, so as to get a shot.
But no great reptile was in sight then, and they remained looking on
while Sree and his men cleverly stripped off the boa's skin and
stretched it out to dry, before fetching a couple of brass vessels
from the back of the bungalow and using them to thoroughly remove all
traces of their late work.
Their next duty was to take a couple of bamboos and thrust off the
body of the serpent.
Sree, however, undertook to do this himself, telling his men to refill
the brass vessels to sluice down the bamboo stage.
But instead of thrusting the repulsive-looking reptile off, he
stopped, thinking for a few moments.
"What is it?" said Phra; "why don't you throw that nasty thing in to
be swept out to sea?"
Sree gave him a peculiar look, and turned to Harry.
"Was it a very big crocodile, Sahib?" he said.
"Yes. Why?"
"Would you like to have a shot at it?"
"Of course; but these big ones are so cunning."
"Let's see," said the man. "Perhaps I could get you a shot."
The boys were interested at once.
"What are you going to do?" said Phra.
"See if I can bring one up where you can shoot."
"How?" asked Harry.
"Is there a big hook in the house?" said Sree.
"Do you want one?"
"Yes, Sahib."
"Go up, then, and tell Mike to give you one of the biggest meat-hooks.
Say I want it directly, and then he will."
The two men squatted down at the end of the landing-place, smiling,
behind their vessels of water, as Sree hurried up the garden, while
the two boys stood, gun in hand, scanning the surface of the river.
"He's going to make a bait of the snake, I suppose; but I don't expect
the croc will be about here now. If the water were clear we could
see."
But, as before said, the stream was flowing of a rich coffee or
chocolate hue, deeply laden as it was with the fine mud of the low
flats so often flooded after rains in the mountains, and it was
impossible to see a fish, save when now and then some tiny, silvery
scrap of a thing sprang out, to fall back with a splash.
"We're only going to make ourselves hot for nothing," said Harry. "I
don't believe we shall see the beast. Now, if you had been here when I
saw him."
"And both of us had had guns," said Phra. "What nonsense it is to talk
like that! One never is at a place at the right time."
"Fortunately for the crocs," said Harry, laughing. "Here he is."
"What, the croc?" cried Phra, cocking his gun.
"No, no; Sree.--Got it?"
"Yes, Sahib. A good big one."
The man came on to the landing-stage, smiling, with the bright new
double hook in his hand and a stout piece of string. Then taking down
a little coil of rope used for mooring boats at one of the posts, he
thrust one of the hooks through the hemp, bound it fast with string,
leaving a long piece after knotting off, and then passed the other
hook well through the vertebrae and muscles behind the snake's head,
using the remaining string to bind the shank of the hook firmly to the
serpent's neck so as to strengthen the hold.
There were about twenty yards of strong rope, and Sree fastened the
other end of this to the post used to secure the boats, before looking
up at the boys.
"Large big fishing," he said, with a dry smile. "Fish too strong to
hold."
"And that's rather a big worm to put on the hook," said Harry,
laughing. "There, throw it out, and let's see if we get a bite. Are
you going to fish, Phra?"
"No," said the Prince; "I am going to shoot. You can hold the line."
"Thankye, but I'm going to fish too. Throw out, Sree."
The old hunter's throwing out was to push one end of the serpent off
the end of the bamboo stage, with the result that the rest glided
after it, and with their guns at the ready the two boys waited to see
if there was a rush made at the bait as it disappeared beneath the
muddy stream.
But all they saw was a gleam or two of the white part of the serpent,
as it rolled over and over, then went down, drawing the rope slowly
out till the last coil had gone; and then nothing was visible save a
few yards of rope going down from the post into the water, and rising
and falling with the action of the current.
Sree squatted down by the post and went on chewing his betel, his two
men by the brass vessels doing the same.
So five, ten, fifteen minutes passed away, with the boys watching,
ready to fire if there was a chance.
"Oh, I say, this is horribly stupid," cried Harry at last. "Let's give
it up."
"No," said Phra; "you want patience to fish for big things as well as
for little. You have no patience at all."
"Well, I'm not a Siamese," said Harry, laughing. "We English folk are
not always squatting down on our heels chewing nut and pepper-leaf,
and thinking about nothing."
"Neither am I," said Phra; "but I have patience to wait."
"It is your nature to," said Harry. "You're all alike here; never in a
hurry about anything."
"Why should we be?" replied Phra quietly. "We could not in a hot
country like ours. You always want to be in a hurry to do something
else. Look at Sree and his men; see how they wait."
"Yes, I suppose they're comfortable; but I'm not. I want to go and lie
down under a tree. Think it's any good, Sree? Won't come, will he?"
"Who can say, Sahib?" replied the man. "He ought to if he is about
here. That bait is big and long; the bait must go far down the stream,
and it smells well."
"Smells well, eh?" said Harry.
"Beautiful for a bait, Sahib. You are sure you saw one this morning?"
"Saw it, and hit it a fine crack with a big stone."
"Then he ought to be there and take that bait; and he will, too, if
you have not offended him by making his back too sore."
"Offended him! Made his back too sore!" said Harry, with a chuckle.
"What a rum old chap you are, Sree! You talk about animals just as if
they felt and thought as we do."
"Yes, Sahib, and that is what the bonzes teach. They say that when
people die they become crocodiles, or elephants, or birds, or
serpents, or monkeys, or some other kind of creature."
"And that's all stuff and nonsense, Sree. You don't believe all that,
I know."
"It's what I was taught, Sahib," said the man, with a queer twinkle of
the eye.
"But you don't believe it, Sree. You don't think that some one turned
when he died into that old snake, or else you wouldn't have caught it
to sell to my father as a specimen."
"And then skinned it and made a bait of it on a hook to catch a
crocodile," said Phra.
"Not he. Look at him," cried Harry. "See how he's laughing in his
sleeve."
"He isn't. Hasn't got any sleeves."
"Well, inside, then. His eyes are all of a twinkle. He doesn't believe
it a bit. There, I shan't stand here any longer cuddling this gun,
with nothing to shoot at."
"It is rather stupid, Hal."
"Yes. Here, jump up, Sree, and take us where we can have a shoot at
something, or go and fish; I don't care which."
"Come and see the elephants," suggested Phra.
"No, I want to be under the shady trees. What's the good of going to
see the tame elephants? They're not white, after all. Chained by one
leg and nodding their old heads up and down, up and down, till they
see you, and then they begin sticking out their leeches."
"Sticking out their leeches?" said Phra, looking at him wonderingly.
"Trunks, then. They always look to me like jolly great leeches ready
to hold on to you. Let's go. Pull up the hook and line, Sree, and get
rid of that nasty snake."
"Yes, Sahib," said the old hunter, beginning to haul on the rope,
which came in heavily for a few feet.
"It comes in slowly," said Phra; "has something taken the bait?"
_Whush!_ went the line through Sree's hands, and then _whang!_ as it
was snapped tight with such violence that the man started from it, for
the stout post was jarred so that it quivered and seemed about to be
pulled down, while the light bamboo and palm roof swayed, and the
whole structure seemed as if it were going to be dragged over into the
river.
There was no doubting the violence of the wrench and the danger, for
the two men sprang off on to the shore and stood staring, till Sree
shouted to them to come back and help haul.
"Why, we've caught him, Phra," cried Harry, as soon as he had
recovered from his astonishment. "Look out, lad, and be ready to fire
as soon as he shows upon the surface. Pull, Sree; don't let him drag
like that at the post again."
"I can't move him, Sahib," said the man, who looked startled; and he
was already hauling with all his might, but doing nothing more than
slightly ease the strain on the post.
But first one and then the other man got a grip of the rope, pulling
together with such effect that whatever had seized the bait and become
hooked began to jerk the line violently, as if it were throwing its
head from side to side.
"Be ready to shoot, Master Harry," said Sree. "He may rush up to the
top of the water and come at us, or try to sweep us off here with his
tail."
"Nonsense!" cried Harry.
"'Tisn't," said Phra calmly, as he stood like a bronze statue, ready
to fire. "I saw a man swept off a boat once like that."
"By a croc?"
"Yes."
"What then?" said Harry huskily.
"I don't know. He was never seen again. Ah, look out!"
As Phra spoke there was a violent eddying in the water where the end
of the line must have been.
"He's coming up," cried Harry, raising his gun to his shoulder. "Hold
on, all of you. Ah, here he is. Fire!"
The two guns went off almost like one, for all at once the hideous
knotted head of a crocodile appeared at the surface and came rapidly
towards the stage slackening the rope and making the two men quit
their hold and, in spite of an angry cry from Sree, tumble one over
the other ashore.
The hunter behaved bravely enough, but the moment had arrived when he
felt that discretion was the better part of valour--when it was
evident that the hideous reptile, enraged at finding such a finale to
the delicious repast of musky boa, neatly skinned apparently for its
benefit, but followed by a horrible tearing sensation in its throat
and the pressure of a long rope which could not be swallowed nor
bitten through because it persisted in getting between the teeth, had
risen to the surface, caught sight of a man dragging at the rope, had
aimed straight at him as being the cause of all the pain, and was
about to rush at and sweep him from the platform.
Under the circumstances Sree was about to let go and follow the
example of his men, but the firing checked the crocodile's charge,
sending it rushing down below with a tremendous wallow and splash on
the surface with its tail; the rope ran out again, and Sree proudly
held on, congratulating himself on not having let go, but repenting
directly after, for there was a jerk which seemed as if it would drag
his arms out of their sockets, and if he had not let the rope slide he
must have gone head first into the river.
Then came another drag at the post which supported the roof, and once
more everything quivered, but not so violently as before, while Sree
tightened his hold again and roared to his men to come.
The movement of the rope now showed that the great reptile was
swimming here and there deep down in the muddy water, while the two
lads with hands trembling from excitement reloaded as quickly as they
could; and as the two men resumed their places on the stage and took
hold of the rope, the sharp clicking of gun-locks told that a couple
more charges were ready.
"Think we can kill him, Sree?" cried Harry.
"I daren't say, Sahib. The rope may break by his teeth at any time,
but we'll drag and make him come up again, so that you can have
another shot. What are you loaded with?"
"Big slugs," cried Phra.
"Ought to be bullets," said the hunter.
"But we are very near, Sree," chimed in Harry.
"Yes, Sahib; but an old crocodile like this is so horny. Never mind;
you must try. Say when you're ready."
"Now," said Phra hoarsely, and Harry stood with his lips pinched and
his forehead a maze of wrinkles.
Sree turned fiercely to his two followers, who had hold of the rope
close behind him.
"If you let go this time, I'll knock you both in," he cried, "and then
you'll be killed and eaten, and come to life again as crocodiles."
The men shivered at this to them horrible threat, and Harry and Phra
exchanged glances.
Meanwhile Sree was, so to speak, just feeling the crocodile's head,
and as no extra strain was put upon the rope the reptile kept on
swimming to and fro; but the moment the rope was tightened and the
three men gave a steady drag there was a violent eddying of the water,
the rope slackened, and the huge head and shoulders shot out as if the
brute meant to reach its enemies in one bound.
But once more the reports of the two guns came nearly together, and
the gaping jaws of the reptile snapped together as the head
disappeared.
"Load again," cried Harry excitedly. "Let him run, Sree."
The hunter nodded, and as soon as the guns were loaded the drag and
reappearance of the beast took place, another couple of shots were
received, and this time the reptile whirled itself round and making
good use of its favourite weapon struck at the occupants of the
landing-stage, its tail sweeping along with terrific force.
But the brute had miscalculated the distance. Six feet nearer, and the
two lads would have been swept into the river. As it was they felt the
wind of the passing tail and heard the loud humming _whish_ as it
passed.
"That was near, Phra," said Harry.
"Yes; the hideous wretch! the beast!" hissed the Siamese lad through
his teeth, and followed it up with another loud, hollow, hissing noise
from the barrel of his gun, as he rammed a wad down upon the powder.
"Let's go on and kill him. Such a wretch ought not to live and destroy
everything he can reach along the banks. Oh, how I wish we had some
big bullets! I'd half fill the gun."
"Then I'm glad you have none, old chap," said Harry.
"Why?" cried Phra, pausing, ramrod in hand.
"You ought to know by now. Burst the gun."
"Nearly ready, Sahib?" cried Sree. "He's pulling harder, and I'm
afraid of the rope breaking."
"Not quite," said Phra, but a minute later, "Let's stand a bit farther
back, Hal. Now, Sree, pull."
There was another steady draw upon the rope, which ran out now quite
at right angles with the stage, and in an instant it was responded to
by a tremendous rush. The water rose in a wave, then parted, as the
open jaws of the crocodile appeared, coming right at them. The next
moment the landing-stage quivered and rocked, for it was as if a
tree-trunk had struck it right at the edge. Then there was a splash
which sent the water flying all over the edifice, and all was still.
The reptile's charge had its effect, for as it fell back into the
water the three Siamese rose to their feet from where they had flung
themselves off from the staging in among the flowering bushes, and
Harry and Phra sat up on the path which led into the garden.
"Oh, what a beast!" cried Phra, rubbing himself. "I hate him, oh, ten
thousand times worse now!"
"Lucky we didn't shoot one another," said Harry. "I say, see how I've
scratched the stock of father's gun."
"Why didn't you fire, Sahib?" said Sree ruefully, as he began picking
thorns out of his left arm.
"Come, I like that!" cried Harry. "Why didn't you three hold on by the
rope? I say, Sree, this is a one-er."
"You see, he doesn't like that hook, Sahib," said the hunter.
"But he has got to like it," said Harry. "There, we're not beaten.
Come on again. We must kill him now."
"I'm afraid, Sahib, he is one of those old savage crocodiles that are
enchanted, and can't be killed."
"Oh, are you?" said Harry drily; "then I'm not. And if that rope
doesn't break, we're going to kill him for being so impudent, aren't
we, Phra?"
"Yes," said the lad, with his dark eyes flashing. "We will kill him
now if it takes pounds of powder."
"And hundredweights of shot," said Harry. "Now then, look at the
primings, and then stir the wretch up again, Sree, before he jigs that
post down."
The jerking of the post was transferred to the arms of the men as the
two lads stepped back to the bamboo floor, ready once more, and
laughingly now, as they trusted to their own activity to escape the
reptile's jaws. The men began to haul at the rope, with the same
result as before.
But the boys were more ready this time. They watched the approaching
wave, and as the open jaws of the enemy appeared, they fired right in
between them, as if moved by the same impulse; and this time the
creature dropped back at once.
"That was a good one, Sree," cried Harry, beginning to reload.
"It was great and wonderful, Sahib. How glad I am to see you both
trying to slay the old murderer! A few more shots like that, and he
will never again drag little children and poor weak women down to his
holes in the muddy banks. It is a grand thing to do; but the bullets
should be heavier than those."
"Never mind," said Phra; "we'll make these do."
Once more the order was given to pull, and the rope was tightened as
it descended just in the same place, showing that the reptile was
lying still in the same spot--probably a hole in the muddy bed--which
had formed its lurking-place during the last few minutes.
It was a complete repetition in every respect of the last rush, and,
taught by experience, the lads were as quick in the repetition of
their last tactics. The wave rose in response to the heavy drag, the
water eddied and parted, and once more a couple of heavy charges of
slugs were poured between the hideous, gaping jaws, which closed with
a snap, and the head sank down out of sight.
But this time there was a fresh surprise. The monster's tail rose high
in the air, and delivered three or four tremendous smacks on the
surface, raising such a foam and shower that it was only dimly seen
how the reptile must have tried to evade its enemies by shooting up
stream.
But it was apparent by the direction of the rope, to which the three
men held on as long as they could, the final jerk making them let go
for a few minutes, but only for Sree to seize hold again.
"He must have got that last badly, Sahib," said the hunter gravely, as
he began to pull in the slack, which showed that the reptile was no
longer straining at the line.
"Bring him back then directly we're ready," cried Harry, "and we'll
give him another dose. But I say," he added, as he went on loading
quickly, "that line comes in very easily."
"Yes, Sahib, and we must be on the look-out. I thought he had rushed
up stream, but he must be close here."
"I know," cried Phra; "it's just like the cunning beast. He has come
back, and is hiding under the floor. We must look out."
"Yes, Sahib," replied the hunter; "very likely, for they are cunning
things. I will not pull in more rope till you are ready for him."
"Ready!" cried Phra a minute later, and Harry echoed the cry.
"Better stand on my other side, Sahibs," said Sree; and the lads took
up the more advantageous place--one, too, which made the hunter more
safe from proving the resting-place of the next volley of bullets.
The two men eagerly took their places at the rope, for familiarity
with the danger incurred had thoroughly bred contempt; and the hauling
began slowly and steadily, every one being on the _qui vive_, and
ready to spring back.
But the first yard came without the slightest resistance.
"Look out!" said Harry, holding his gun to his shoulder, and aiming
down at the water; "he must be very near."
Another yard came without the crocodile being felt.
"He must be close in," whispered Phra, and the excitement now became
intense; for their enemy seemed to be playing a very artful game under
cover of the thick water, which completely shielded the approach.
"Better stand farther back, Sahibs," said Sree, ceasing to pull,
"But we couldn't see to shoot," said Harry.
"Better not shoot than be seized by this child of a horrible mother,
Sahib."
"We should have time to spring back," said Phra; "for we should see
the water move. Go on pulling in the rope."
"Yes, go on," said Harry excitedly. "I can't bear this waiting. Haul
quicker, and let's have it over."
The men obeyed, and another yard was easily and slowly drawn in, the
Siamese in their excitement opening their eyelids widely so as to show
the opalescent eyeballs; but still there was no check, and the curve
of the rope now showed that the hook end must be close under the
stage.
"Now, Sahibs, mind," whispered Sree hoarsely; "he is down there by
your feet, or else right under the floor."
The lads glanced down at the frail, split bamboos, through whose
interstices they could just catch the gleam of the flowing water,
while the same idea came to both.
Suppose the brute were to dash its head upward? It would break through
as easily as if the flooring had been of laths.
But all was still save the rippling whisper of the water and the hum
of insect life outside in the blistering sunshine, as the men drew on
cautiously, inch by inch, in momentary expectation of the development
of a cunning attack.
It was almost in breathless awe now that the men ceased pulling for a
few moments in response to an order from Sree, who whispered to his
superiors,--
"We are just at the end, Sahibs; be quite ready to fire."
"We are," they replied, in a husky whisper.
"Then we shall pull now sharply, Sahibs."
"Pull," said Harry. "Quick!"
The men gave two rapid heaves, and the boys started back with a shout.
"Oh!" roared Harry, stamping about the floor, "only to think of that!"
For Sree was standing holding out the frayed and untwisted end of the
rope, worn through at last by the crocodile's teeth, and parted in the
last rush.
"Oh, I say!" cried Phra.
"Mind! Look out!" yelled Harry, making a dash for the shore, and
immediately there was a regular stampede, which ended in the Prince
seizing his friend by the arm, and thumping his back with the butt of
the gun he held.
"Oh, I say, don't--don't!" panted Harry, who was choking with
laughter.
"Then will you leave off playing such tricks?"
"Yes, yes--please, please!" cried Harry. "Oh, don't; it hurts."
"I know: it'll be like that fable of the shepherd boy and the wolf.
Some day he'll come and no one will run."
"I don't care, so long as you leave off thumping me with that gun.
Don't, Phra, old chap," he added, growing serious; "it's dangerous to
play with guns."
"It's too bad," said Phra. "I thought the beast was jumping on to us.
What a pity, though! All that powder and shot wasted for nothing."
"The bullets were too small, Sahib," said Sree; "but I'm afraid you
could never have killed that crocodile."
"Oh, nonsense!" cried Harry; "bullets would have done it."
Sree shook his head solemnly.
"Look at him, Phra. I did think he was sensible."
"No; he's nearly as superstitious as any of them," replied the lad.
"No, Sahib," said Sree; "I only think it's strange that you fired shot
after shot into that thing, and still he was as strong as ever. I hope
he will not stop about here, and make it not safe to come down to the
landing-place. It would be bad."
"Ahoy--oy--oy!" rang out in a clear, manly voice, and the sound of
oars was followed by a boat gliding into sight.