Sometimes they harpooned the alligators, and then, fastening lassos to their heads and tails, or to a hind leg, dragged them ashore; at other times they threw the lasso over their heads at once, without taking the trouble to harpoon them.

It was a terrible and a wonderful sight to witness the Negroes in the very midst of a shoal of these creatures, any one of which could have taken a man into his jaws quite easily,--whence, once between these long saw-like rows of teeth, no man could have escaped to tell how sharp they were.

The creatures were so numerous that it was impossible to thrust a pole into the mud without stirring up one of them; but they were so terrified at the sudden attack and the shouts of the Negroes, that they thought only of escape.
Suddenly there arose a great cry.

One of the lassos had snapt, and the alligator was floundering back into the water, when Sambo rushed in up to the arm-pits, and caught the end of the rope.

At the same moment two alligators made at the Negro with open jaws.