elicious."

"Guess we didn't make any mistake coming to Florida," laughed Mr. Brown,
as he, too, ate not one, but two ripe oranges.

"Well, let's go on to the house," suggested Mr. Halliday, as he walked
back toward the road where the automobile had been left standing. "My
wife will be eager to see you, and the orange groves aren't going to run
away as Nutty, the tramp, did," and the Southerner laughed at the
remembrance of the story of the travels of Bunny Brown and his sister
Sue.

Mrs. Halliday made her guests welcome, and when she and Mrs. Brown were
chatting over a cup of tea, and while Daddy Brown and Mr. Halliday were
talking business, Bunny and Sue changed into some of their every-day
clothes and asked if they might walk around and see things.

"Yes," their mother told them. "Only don't get into mischief."

"And keep away from the river," added their father, for the stream which
went by the name of Squaw River was not far from the house.

"Can't we just stand on the bank and look for alligators?" asked Bunny.

"Yes, let them," Mr. Halliday advised. "The river is not as big nor deep
as it sounds. In fact up here it is only a shallow creek, though down
below it widens and deepens. And there aren't any alligators in it."

"Well, anyhow, we can look," said Bunny, hoping against hope that there
would be some of the scaly lizards in the water.

So, having been cautioned not to fall in, a promise the children readily
gave, Bunny and Sue started off down through an orange grove near the
house to go to Squaw River. They paused only a little while to watch the
men picking oranges, and then hastened on. Soon they were at the edge of
a slow-moving stream which flowed this way and that between banks of
overhanging palm trees, some of which were festooned with Spanish moss
that hung down in clusters like the ragged beard of a very old man.

It was very quiet and still beside the river. It was shady and cool,
too, after the hot sun of the open places and the orange groves, and
Bunny and Sue rather liked it.

Bunny picked up a stone and tossed it into the river. It fell with a
splash.

"What you doing?" Sue wanted to know.

"Maybe I can scare up an alligator," Bunny answered.

"Mr. Halliday said there wasn't any," Sue responded.

Bunny tossed in another stone, and hardly had it sunk beneath the
surface than Sue grasped her brother's arm, and, pointing to the river,
whispered:

"Look! There's an alligator!"