a62 THE EXPLORATION OF THE NIGER by drowning or by being flung upon the rocks, a yet more awful danger awaited him after he had safely passed the rapids, for beneath all of them many terrible crocodiles He concealed, on the watch for the luckless fish, which, rendered giddy by the whirling turmoil of water, simply swim into their jaws. Crocodiles, you must know, do not kill their prey as sharks do, and no death could be more terrible than that inflicted by these awful denizens of the Niger, for they plunge their victims under water and drown them.

Imagine what it must be to feel oneself gripped by the huge teeth of a merciless brute and dragged along until death from suffocation ensues.

General Skobeleff said one day, " If any one says to you that he has never been afraid, spit in his face and tell him he is a liar ! " I don't in the least mind owning that we were afraid,