Free A Croc Called Capone by Barry Jonsberg

any open cuts on your legs or feet, have you?’
    â€˜I don’t think so. Why?’
    â€˜Then don’t worry about it.’
    That was it. I wasn’t going any further until he told me. Blacky sat on a small hummock amid the wetness and fixed me with his pink-rimmed eyes.
    â€˜Okay,’ he said finally. ‘It’s just that there is a bug in the earth that can get into your bloodstream through small nicks in the skin. It only comes to the surface when it’s wet.’ I looked around at the flooded land. ‘Little possibility of getting infected, though. You’ve more chance of being struck by lightning.’
    I didn’t point out that with my luck I’d probably experience both. I simply let a glowing image of a question mark float through my mind.
    â€˜It’s called meliodosis,’ Blacky continued. ‘Can be a teensy-weensy bit nasty.’
    â€˜How nasty?’
    â€˜Well, not bad . After a while your arms and legs fall off. Then you die … If you’re lucky.’
    â€˜Well, gosh, Blacky,’ I said. ‘Thank goodness it’s only a teensy-weensy bit nasty. I thought I might be in trouble there for a moment.’
    â€˜Nah, mush. You’re much more likely to be bitten by a snake.’
    I was on the point of moving forward again. I stopped.
    â€˜Snake?’
    â€˜This is the Territory, tosh. Home of some of the most venomous snakes in the world. But I wouldn’t worry, if I were you. After all, it’s the crocs you’ve really got to watch out for.’
    â€˜Let me get this straight, Blacky,’ I said. ‘Apart from a bug that makes bits of you drop off and deadly snakes and man-eating crocodiles, this is a completely safe place?’
    â€˜Well, of course there’s also …’
    â€˜Never mind,’ I said. ‘I don’t want to know. Lead on.’
    Suddenly, I needed to get out of there.
    This river wasn’t as broad as the one we’d been on for the croc cruise. Blacky and I stood on the edge and looked at the body floating a few metres from shore.
    â€˜This is the doing of your mate Murray,’ said Blacky. ‘Your “reasonable guy”. Tell me, bucko. Does this look reasonable to you?’
    The crocodile’s pale, almost white, underbelly bobbed gently. Its short arms floated to the side in pathetic openness. I don’t know which emotion I felt first: sadness or anger.
    â€˜He shot it earlier,’ Blacky continued. ‘When you guys were on the cruise. Trouble is, he didn’t kill it cleanly. It was sunning itself on the bank when it took a round in the head from a high-powered rifle. Got into the water. Tried to swim away. Murray couldn’t get to the body, so he just went off in search of other prey while this croc took half an hour to die.’
    It took me a minute to find my voice.
    â€˜But it’s illegal. He’s a doctor!’
    â€˜Yes. And a big-game hunter. This is what he does for kicks, tosh. Not just here, but all over the world. Africa, South America. He’s killed lions, elephants, all manner of animals. Endangered? Doesn’t matter to him. If it’s big and wild, he wants to kill it.’
    I badly needed to sit down, but the ground was wet and we were very close to the bank. Suddenly I became aware of what might be lurking under the surface of that slow-moving river. I moved back a few paces.
    â€˜I don’t get this, Blacky,’ I said. ‘Murray Small arrived yesterday. He couldn’t have brought a rifle with him and it’s a helluva way to the nearest gun shop. It doesn’t make any sense.’
    â€˜He has money, boyo. Lots of money. It’s not difficult to arrange for a couple of other guys to come here in a four-wheel drive with all the equipment he needs. Another thing you must understand. He isn’t interested in skins or heads on the wall. His accomplices take whatever trophies they want from the