"What's the matter?" cried Morgan, laughing.
"Something bit the pole, and made it jar right up my arm."
"That's him. I told you he was at home. Now then, you aren't afraid,
are you?"
"Not a big one, is it?"
"No, not very; only tidy size; but we shall see if we get him out."
I looked rather aghast at Morgan, for the idea of getting a large
alligator out there in the marshy place, and both of us unarmed, was
rather startling.
"Now then, give him a good stir up."
Sooner than seem afraid, but with my heart beating heavily, I took hold
of the pole, and gave it a good shake, and left go again, for it seemed
as if some one had given it a good rap with a heavy stick, and a jarring
sensation ran up my arm.
"No mistake about it this time," said Morgan, grinning. "Puts me in
mind of sniggling for eels, and pushing a worm at the end of a
willow-stick up an eel's burrow in a muddy bank. They give it a knock
like that sometimes, but of course not so hard. Well, why don't you go
on?"
"Go on with what?" I cried, wishing myself well out of the whole
business.
"Stirring of him up, and making him savage. But stop a moment, let's
have this ready."
He took out the piece of rope, and made a large noose, laying it on some
thick moss, and then turning to me again.
"Now then, my lad, give him a good stir up. Don't be afraid. Make him
savage, or else he won't hold on."
With a dimly defined notion of what we were aiming at, I gave the pole a
good wrench round in the hole, feeling it strike against something, and
almost simultaneously feeling something strike against it.
"That's the way, sir. Give it him again."
Growing reckless now, and feeling that I must not shrink, I gave the
pole another twist round, with the result that it was snatched out of my
hand.
"He has it," cried Morgan, excitedly. "Feel if he has got it fast,
Master George."
I took hold of the pole, gazing down with no little trepidation, in the
expectation of at any moment seeing some hideous monster rush out, ready
to seize and devour me.
But there was no response to my touch, the pole coming loosely into my
hand.
"Give him another stir up, Master George. They tell me that's the way
they do it to make them savage."
"But do we want to make the creature savage?" I said.
"Course we do! There, you do as I tell you, my lad, and you'll see."
I gave the pole a good poke round in the hole again, just as if I was
stirring up something in a huge pot, when almost before I had gone right
round--_Whang_! The pole quivered in my hand, and a thrill ran through
me as in imagination I saw a monstrous beast seize the end of the stick
in its teeth and give it a savage shake.
"Hurrah!" cried Morgan. "He has got it tight now. That's right, Master
George; let me come. We'll soon haul him out."
"No, no," I said, as excited now as the Welshman. "It may be
dangerous."
"We'll dangerous him, my lad."
"But he may bite."
"Well, let him. 'Gators' bites arn't poisonous, like snakes. I should
just like to see him bite."
"I shouldn't," I said, mentally, as Morgan pushed me a little on one
side, and took hold of the pole.
"Now then, don't you be scared; I'll tackle him if he's vicious. Both
pull together. He's so vexed now that he won't leave go if his teeth
'll hold."
"No," I said, setting my own teeth fast, but not in the pole. "Am I to
pull?"
"To be sure. Both pull together. It's like fishing with a wooden line.
Now then, haul away!"
There was a length of about ten feet of the pole down in the hole as we
took hold together and began to haul, feeling something very heavy at
the end, which came up in a sullen, unresisting way for some distance,
giving me courage and making me nearly as eager and excited as our man.
"That's the way, sir. We'll soon--Hi! Hold tight! Wo--ho, there; wo--
ho! Ah!"
For all at once the creature began to struggle furiously, shaking the
pole so that we dragged at it with all our might; and then--_Whoosh_!
The alligator left go, and we went backward on the soft mossy earth.
"I _am_ glad!" I thought, as we struggled up.
"There, Master George, what d'yer think o' that? Can't have such games
as this at home in the old country, eh?"
"No," I said. "But you're not going to try again, are you?"
"Not going to try again? I should think I am, till I get the great ugly
creature here at the top. Why, you're not skeart of him, are you?"
"Wait till he's out, and then we'll see," I replied, as I thrust the
pole down again, giving it a fierce twist, and felt it seized once more.
"That's the way. This is a bit of the finest sport I ever had, and it's
just dangerous enough to make it exciting. Haul away, my lad."
I set my teeth and hauled, the reptile coming up quickly enough
half-way, and then beginning to writhe and shake its head furiously,
every movement being communicated to our arms, and giving us a good
notion of the strength of the enemy we were fighting, if fighting it
could be called. Up we drew it inch by inch, and I must confess that
with every change of the position of my hands I hoped it would be the
last, that the creature would leave go, and drop back into the hole, and
that Morgan would be so disappointed that he would not try any more.
That is just how I felt, and yet, odd as it may sound, it is not as I
felt, for mingled with that series of thoughts--just as a change of
position shows another set of colours on a bird's back or in a piece of
silk--there was another, in which I was hoping the alligator would hold
on tightly, so that we might get it right out of the hole, and I could
attack and kill it with the pole, so that I could show Morgan and--much
more important--myself that I was not afraid to behave as boldly as the
man who had hold with his hands touching mine.
My last ideas were gratified, for as we hauled together there was
another savage shaking of the pole, which quivered in our grasp; then a
strong drag or two, and we knew by the length of the pole that we must
have the reptile within a yard of the surface, when Morgan looked down
where a bright gleam of the sunlight shot from above.
"All right, Master George," he cried; "this way--over with you!" and
setting the example, he dragged the pole over in the opposite direction
to that in which we had it bent, when I perforce followed with him, and
the next moment we were dragging a great alligator through the wet moss
and black mud, the creature making very little resistance, for it was on
its back, this being the result of Morgan's last movement when he
dragged the pole across the hole.
The shape of the reptile's head and back made our task the more easy,
and we had run with it a good fifty feet before it recovered from its
surprise, loosened its hold of the pole, and began to writhe and thrash
about with its tail as it twisted itself over into its proper position,
in a way that was startling.
"Now, Master George, we've got him. I'll keep him from running back
into his hole; you go and get the rope."
I could not stir for a few moments, but stood watching, as I saw Morgan
raise up the pole, and bring it down bang across the alligator's back,
but without doing it the slightest injury, for the end struck a
half-rotten log, and the pole snapped off a yard above Morgan's hands.
"Never mind! I'll keep him back," roared Morgan, as the reptile kept
facing him, and half turning to strike at him with its tail. "Quick,
lad! The rope--the rope!"
I started off at once, and picked up the rope with its noose all ready,
and then seized my pole as well, too much excited now to think of being
afraid. Then I trotted back to Morgan just as he was having a fierce
fight with the creature, which kept on snapping and turning at him in a
way that, to say the least, was alarming.
"Ah, would you!" Morgan kept crying, as the brute snapped at him, and
he presented the broken pole, upon which the reptile's teeth closed,
giving the wood a savage shake which nearly wrenched it out of Morgan's
hands; but he held on, and had all his work to do to avoid the tangled
growth and the blows of the creature's tail.
"That's it, Master George. Now quick: drop that rope, and next time he
opens his pretty mouth give him the pole. Aren't afraid of him, are
you?"