It would be impossible to approach the watchful creature within striking distance before he could dive.

Quonab would not use the gun; in this case he felt he must atone by making an equal fight.

He quickly formed a plan; he fastened the tomahawk and the coiled rope to his belt, then boldly and silently slipped into the lake, to approach the snapper from the water side--quite the easiest in this case, not only because the snapper would naturally watch on the land side, but because there was a thick clump of rushes behind which the swimmer could approach.
Then, as instructed, Rolf went back into the woods, and came silently to a place whence he could watch the snapper from a distance of twenty yards.
The boy's heart beat fast as he watched the bold swimmer and the savage reptile.

There could be little doubt that the creature weighed a hundred pounds.

It is the strongest for its size and the fiercest of all reptiles.