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Show ADVENTURERS7 CLUB fj. HEADLINES FROM THE LIVES V'H OF PEOPLE LIKE YOURSELF! "Assassins of the Nile"- ? By FLOYD GIBBONS Famous Headline Hunter ; YOU know, boys and girls, I have often said that vo find adventure close to home a darned sight easier ft " you will roaming the world. One who goes traveling, search of thrills usually doesn't find any until he gets b ' .into his own bailiwick again. But there are exceptions3': every rule and here's one of them. George C. Dorst 'l Bardonia, Rockland county, N. Y., met his biggest tb ' when he was thousands of miles away from home andk strange exotic country. ;; The country was Egypt, and George landed there In the cou "- his travels as a fireman on a tramp steamer. The steamer was !' Ing scrap iron, unloading it in consignments of various sizes at"" along the Nile river and its many branches. The year was 1912 T '' ship had traveled part way up the Nile and was anchored in th r-just r-just south of the town of Medinet El Faiyum. e ;: The ship was anchored not far from a pier. The weath ;l ' Is pretty hot In Egypt. In the afternoon, particularly, the 1" :!: beats down with such Intensity that it Is next to Impossible f"" anybody but a native to do any work. It was at the height t '"' the hot season, and the crew of the steamer, dripping swe t from every pore of their bodies, were just about all in, AIo ;i' in the afternoon the skipper gave orders for all hands to knock ofl ' work for the rest of the day. i; The men didn't argue about that. Most of them just walked t P shadiest spot they could find on that hot ship, flopped on the deck forested. fo-rested. But there were a half dozen young fellows George among the who had a better idea. They stripped off their clothes and dived 0 the side into the water. -a A Dandy Day for Lazy Sport. The water was cool and refreshing. Those lads were in It off 1 - "i! on, for the better part of the afternoon. They came out, now and'then V a breathing spell on the ship's deck, but the sun beating down on' '"c iron hull of the vessel made it so hot that they were glad to get back ''' the water again. The afternoon wore on and the sun began sinking toward lhi -' horizon. As rts scorching rays withdrew little by little, the day became cooler. One by one the swimmers climbed back aboard the steamer and stayed there. Finally all of them were out oi ? the water except one. And that one man was George Dorste. George loved the water and he hated to leave it. He was swimm ' some distance away from the ship's side, and about half-way betweei i and the pier.- As he splashed about In the river he heard a voice call ri: on shore and, looking up, saw a native standing on the pier. k If George Had Only Been a Linguist! - The native was shouting to George, but in a language he dii'-X understand. Then suddenly, he began to point toward the ship Geo The great reptile was between him and the ship. could figure out only one reason for that pointing. He immedia'-jumped immedia'-jumped to the conclusion that someone aboard had dropped sometl-0 over the side and wanted him to retrieve it. -: "A ' He turned and swam slowly toward the ship. The native on 7 the pier kept right on yelling, but George paid no attention. And then, suddenly, he saw it a thing that looked like a log floating::'-in floating::'-in the water, but a log that had a rough wrinkled snout and a pair U7e of glassy eyes just showing above the surface! ;ir:: A crocodile! The great reptile was between him and the ship and not morei'Cif-twenty morei'Cif-twenty feet away from him. A shudder went through George's L.."r when he saw it. He turned and began swimming toward the pier. T:' the pier was a great distance away or at least, so it seemed to Gea-V He knew that beast could catch up to him in less time than it take tell the story. -"ei He Looked Like Good Meal to Crocodile. ' He was swimming as fast as he could exhausting himself in s 5 . for the pier. And the crocodile was following along behind. It sea -v to George that the great reptile never approached any closer than i-.C original twenty feet the distance that had separated them whet turned toward the pier. Was the beast playing with him, as a cati:;;. if - a. ouse? r was " waiting until George had exhausted h;-:."';: self in the swim toward shore before those cruel jaws opened and el. 5 over him? Still swimming frantically, he reached the pier. And then an-other an-other terrifying discovery greeted him. As he made frenzied ef- . torts io climb up the piles that supported the pier, he found ttal-S he couldn't. Those piles were covered with a slippery moss. He ;:i;; ; could make no headway up them. And all the time, now, the crocodile was coming closer, swimming slowly toward what it .. , knew must inevitably furnish it its evening meal. By now, George was mad with terror. He was still clawing scraping frantically at those smooth, moss-covered piles, when the -..V; live on the dock came to his rescue. Suddenly, the native picked Ut:;.;" -nuge piece of scrap iron from a pile on the dock, and hurled it al :? swimmmg crocodile. The piece missed. The native threw anoil :;;iv-and :;;iv-and that one found its mark. It hit the beast on toe snout, and it i ii: beneath the surface. : S!.';;-; Native's Accurate Peg Saves George's Life. ! ay. 0131 time a boat had been launched from the ship. It cmm!.3 t?,. l lCIs water as George's shipmates pulled hard on the mb;- reacnea Ueorge a few seconds after the crocodile had gone down. ,Kv As they pulled me out of the water," George says, "I lM consciousness for a minute or two. But I came back to life b lore the boat had reached the ship in time to see the steely eye kSf; or the crocodile which had reappeared once more. It was W t;, lowing along, not more than ten feet behind the boat." tho ?erg; says that h('d had a gun then, it would have give" -4 , and n, li ? P GaSUre t0 aim u riSht between those two glassy - and pull the trigger. VHY WNU Service. N |
