brain.

"A lucky shot, all right. I don't believe it could ever happen again,
especially when the one who fired was almost behind the 'gator,"
commented Frank.

"How big is he?" asked the one who had slain the reptile.

"I should say all of ten feet, perhaps even eleven. They seldom grow
bigger than twelve down here, I'm told, so this one is something of a
whopper. If the alligator man I talked with at Coney Island a year ago
told the truth, then this one must be several hundred years old."

"Whew! Perhaps he saw Columbus land!" suggested Bluff humorously, for he
could not quite believe any such tale.

He concluded merely to knock out a tooth or two, to remember the event,
but when Will heard about it he insisted on being ferried over so as to
get a picture of their first Florida 'gator, with the proud Bluff
standing beside it, to prove its length.

They got under way about eight o'clock.

Just at that time Jerry said he heard some distant shooting. It seemed to
come from the direction the sheriff and his party had gone, so they
wondered if they could have come up with the fugitive Bob, and whether
those shots had any reference to the two hounds.

"I think the fellow must have been armed, and unless his gun became
useless after his bath last night, his first care would be to shoot down
the dogs, so as to cut off pursuit," ventured Frank.

They afterward learned, however, by making inquiries, that the sheriff
got his man, wounded, and that Bob later on paid the penalty of his
crime.

By noon that day they came to a sawmill, where a party of convicts, under
guard, were making cypress shingles. Our boys did not put in, for the
sight was anything but pleasing to them; although Will did think it wise
to get a picture of the camp, so as to add variety to his collection.

About three o'clock they suddenly came to a little town. Here they
stopped only a brief time, Frank going ashore to post some letters and
purchase a few things he had on his list.

Once more they were afloat.

"I've got some pleasant news for you, fellows," said Frank, about an hour
or so after they had lost sight of the settlement in the woods.

"Along what line?" asked Will.

"I think I can guess. For some time I've been sniffing the air, and ready
to declare that it had a whiff of salt in it!" exclaimed Jerry.

"And I could, in imagination, smell those fine fat oysters roasting,"
said Bluff, smacking his lips in anticipation.

"You're