See the reason for that last six feet of small lines, Mark?
They're so he can't bite the rope; the little lines slip in between his teeth." The noise of the struggle and the shouts of the boys attracted the notice of the men on their way home from work at the mill, and they came running down to the ferry to see what was the matter.
"We were fishing for minnows," explained Mark, "and we've caught a whale.

Take hold here and help us haul him in." The men caught hold of the rope, and slowly but surely, in spite of his desperate struggles, the alligator was drawn towards them.
Suddenly he makes a rush at them, and, as the line slackens, the men fall over backward in a heap, and their enemy disappears in deep water.
He has not got away, though--a pull on the line assures them of that; and again he is drawn up, foot by foot, until half his body is out on the bank.

He is a monster, and Jan with an uplifted axe approaches him very carefully.
"Look out, Jan!" shouts Frank.
The warning comes too late; like lightning the great tail sweeps round, and man and axe are flung ten feet into the bushes.
Luckily no bones are broken, but poor Jan is badly bruised and decidedly shaken up.

He does not care to renew the attack, and Frank runs to the house for a rifle.

Taking steady aim, while standing at a respectful distance from that mighty tail, he sends a bullet crashing through the flat skull, and the struggle is ended.
That evening was spent in telling and in listening to alligator stories, and Frank was the hero of the hour for having so skilfully captured and killed the alligator that had been for a long time the dread of the community..