Instantly there was a rush from seats and lounging places, and those who happened to be in the cabin came out as though a shell had exploded among them. Some ran one way and some another, and several went to the wrong side of the boat. The crocodile was lying on a sand-bank two hundred yards or more from the course of the steamer. He was evidently enjoying a sun-bath when disturbed by the sound of the paddle-wheels, and concluded that the wisest plan for him to follow was to drop into the water. While he remained quiet he could easily have been mistaken for a blackened log, but as soon as he was in motion there was no doubt on the subject. Creeping rather than walking, he was soon at the edge of the water, and, without pausing to see what it was that disturbed him, he disappeared beneath the surface of the river. The Doctor told the boys that many persons made the tour of the Nile nowadays without getting a single glimpse of a crocodile below the first cataract. Above Assouan crocodiles are more frequent, and beyond Khartoom they are so abundant that dozens of them may be counted in a single day. Thirty years ago they were numerous in the vicinity of Thebes and Keneh, and it was dangerous to venture into the water lest they might take a notion to a breakfast on humanity. On the upper part of the Nile, in the vicinity of Gondokoro, they are large and ferocious, and hardly a day passes that they do not carry off a native who has incautiously ventured into the river or near its edge. It is the ambition of every tourist who ascends the Nile in a dahabeeah to bring back the skin of at least one crocodile as a trophy. The best way of killing this kind of game is to shoot him when he is taking his nap on a sand-bank; and if proper caution is observed, and the position is favorable, the sportsman may approach within forty or fifty yards without disturbing his prey. The scales of the reptile are so thick and hard that an ordinary rifle-ball glances off as from an iron plate. The only vulnerable point is behind the fore-leg, and a good chance for a shot is not always presented. Of late years considerable havoc has been made among crocodiles by means of explosive bullets, which burst as they strike and tear a hole in the crocodile, in addition to making a general disturbance internally if the proper spot has been reached.