This caused him to relax his hug, and he now seemed anxious to get off; but the reptile had seized one of his feet in his powerful jaws and thus held him fast, all the while crawling and dragging him down to the water.

The bear was evidently aware of the intention of his antagonist, and uttered loud and pitiful moanings, at times screaming like a hog under the knife of the butcher.
It was all to no purpose.

His unrelenting enemy gained the bank; and dragging him along, plunged into the deep water.

Both went down together--completely disappearing from the eyes of the spectators--and although the boys watched for nearly an hour, neither beast nor reptile were seen to rise again to the surface.

The bear no doubt had been drowned at once, and the alligator, after having suffocated him, had hidden his carcass in the mud, or dragged it along the bottom to some other part of the bayou--there to make a meal of it at his leisure..