PALMETTOS, OR MAGNIFICENT TALL
PALMS"]

The house looked too spooky and snaky to live in, and the boys made
their camp in the open, near a tamarind tree and, as they observed
later, beside an overgrown grave. An old barrel under the eaves of
the house was nearly full of rain water, which they were likely to
need, since their only supply of fresh water was contained in a
five-gallon can, which would hold about two days' requirements. The
rain water was good and would have been better but for Ned's
gruesome inquiry:

"You don't suppose it has been poisoned, do you, Dick?"

On their first afternoon the boys crossed the swampy jungle in the
rear of the old plantation and found themselves on a typical South
Florida prairie. On it were oases of fire-blackened palmettos,
little ponds, palmetto scrub and bits of soggy meadow, in which they
often sank to their knees, as they plodded across them. There were
tracks of wild animals in the meadows and regular trails of
alligators between the ponds. Billy stopped beside one of the ponds
and grunted, as he had been taught by Johnny, until a little 'gator
showed his head.

"See that alligator, Ned? Let's go in there and fetch him out."

"Not much do I go in that mud-hole, alligator or no alligator."

"Then, just you watch me," said Dick, as he took off his shoes and
stockings.

"See here, Dicky boy, come out of there," said Ned.

But Dick kept on, wading all round the pond before he felt the
wiggle he wanted. Perhaps his toes were less tough than Johnny's, or
maybe he didn't manage them as well, for one of them got in a baby
'gator's mouth. Dick couldn't suppress a yell as two rows of
needle-like teeth sunk into his flesh, and he jerked his foot away
so violently that he lost the chance of bagging his game. Then Ned
came floundering through the mud and almost dragged him out of the
pond.

"I mean to get that little alligator if it takes all day, only I
won't try him barefoot again," said Dick, as he slowly drew his
stocking over his aching toe.

Dick waded out into the pond again and for half an hour explored
with his feet for the reptile he was after, but all in vain. Several
times he thought he touched the creature with his shoe, but could
not be sure. Then he waded ashore and began taking off his shoes.

"What are you going to do now, Dick?" said Ned.

"Johnny waded barefoot into just such a pond as that and brought out
a 'gator. I told him then that what he could d