It was evening when we were cast ashore in this new country, so that we had not advanced far into the forest before night closed in and compelled us to halt; for, had we continued our journey in the dark, we should certainly have been drowned in one of the many deep morasses which abounded there, and which we had found it difficult to steer clear of, even in daylight.  
As the moon arose and the stars began to glimmer in the sky, I observed, to my dismay, that all kinds of noxious creatures and creeping things began to move about, and strange hissing sounds and low dismal hootings and wails were heard at times indistinctly, as if the place were the abode of evil spirits, who were about to wake up to indulge in their midnight orgies.
 
“Oh! Jack,” said I, shuddering violently, as I stopped and seized my companion by the arm. “I can’t tell what it is that fills me with an unaccountable sensation of dread. I—I feel as if we should never more get out of this horrible swamp, or see again the blessed light of day. See! see! what horrid creature is that?”
 
“Pooh! man,” interrupted Jack, with a degree of levity in his tone which surprised me much. “It’s only a serpent. All these kind o’ things are regular cowards. Only let them alone and they’re sure to let you alone. I should like above all things to tickle up one o’ these brutes, and let him have a bite at my wooden toe! It would be rare fun, wouldn’t it, Bob, eh? Come, let us push on, and see that you keep me straight, old fellow!”
 
I made no reply for some time. I was horrified at my comrade’s levity in such circumstances. Then, as I heard him continue to chuckle and remark in an undertone on the surprise the serpent would get on discovering the exceeding toughness of his toe, it for the first time flashed across my mind that his sufferings had deranged my dear companion’s intellect.
 
The bare probability of such a dreadful calamity was sufficient to put to flight all my previous terrors. I now cared nothing whatever for the loathsome reptiles that wallowed in the swamps around me, and the quiet glidings and swelterings of whose hideous forms were distinctly audible in the stillness of approaching night. My whole anxiety was centred on Jack. I thought that if I could prevail on him to rest he might recover, and proposed that we should encamp; but he would not hear of this. He kept plunging on, staggering through brake and swamp, reedy pond and quaking morass, until I felt myself utterly unable to follow him a step farther.
 
Just at this point Jack stopped abruptly and said—
 
“Bob, my boy, we’ll camp here.”
 
It was a fearful spot. Dark, dismal, and not a square foot of dry ground.
 
“Here, Jack?”
 
“Ay, here.”
 
“But it’s—it’s all wet. Excuse me, my dear comrade, I’ve not yet acquired the habit of sleeping in water.”
 
“No more have I, Bob; we shall sleep on a fallen tree, my boy. Did you never hear of men sleeping in a swamp on the top of a log? It’s often done, I assure you, and I mean to do it to-night. See, here is a good large one, three feet broad by twenty feet long, with lots of stumps of broken branches to keep us from rolling off. Come, let’s begin.”
 
We immediately began to make our arrangements for the night. With the aid of our clasp-knives we cut a quantity of leafy branches, and spread them on the trunk of a huge prostrated tree, the half of which was sunk in the swamp, but the other half was sufficiently elevated to raise us well out of the water. The bed was more comfortable than one would suppose; and, being very tired, we lay down on it as soon as it was made, and tried to sleep: having nothing to eat, we thought it well to endeavour to obtain all the refreshment we could out of sleep.
 
We had not lain long, when I started up in a fright, and cried—
 
“Hallo! Jack, what’s that? See, through the reeds; it creeps slowly. Oh; horror! it comes towards us!”
 
Jack looked at it sleepily. “It’s an alligator,” said he. “If it approaches too close, just wake me; but, pray, don’t keep howling at every thing that comes to peep at us.”
 
Just at that moment, the hideous reptile drew near, and, opening its jaws, let them come together with a snap! Even Jack was not proof against this. He started up, and looked about for a defensive weapon. We had nothing but our clasp-knives. The alligator wallowed towards us.
 
“Oh for an axe!” gasped Jack.
 
The brute was within a few yards of us now. I was transfixed with horror. Suddenly an idea occurred to me.
 
“Your leg, Jack, your leg!”
 
He understood me. One sweep of his clasp-knife cut all the fastenings—the next moment he grasped the toe in both hands, and, swaying the heavy butt of the limb in the air, brought it down with all his force on the skull of the alligator. It rang like the sound of a blow on an empty cask. Again the limb was swayed alo............