es. There was heavy timber about the camp and more than once
during the night the boys heard the tread of a wild animal. Once it
seemed to be the step of a deer in shallow water near the camp, then
it was the soft footfall of some catlike animal and when Ned raised
himself on his elbow to listen to a heavier tread, the "_wouf_" of
the startled beast told that Bruin had caught the offensive scent of
the white man's camp. As the boys lay awake and talked while they
watched the stars peeping through the canopy of vines above them,
they heard the distant bellowing of a Bull alligator.

"Dick," said Ned, "do you s'pose we could find that 'gator? He must
be fifteen feet long, from the noise he makes. I'd like mighty well
to rope him. We could stake him out so he'd never, never get away
and he would live for weeks if it took us that long to get him
carried to Fort Myers. Dad would sure be delighted and pay all the
bills like a major."

"Don't you think he'd throw in new rifles with silver plates and our
names on 'em?"

"He sure would."

"Well, we haven't got the big alligator yet, but we'll hunt for him
to-morrow."

Just as Dick spoke the distant report of a gun was heard.

"There goes your fifteen-foot alligator and both of our new rifles
with silver plates and our names on them. Good-night."

The boys started out across the meadow in the morning on the hunt
for the big 'gator. They carried a rope for the 'gator and Ned took
his rifle to be ready for the bear that spoke to them in the night.
There was no more danger of their losing their camp, for Ned had
made a chart every night, of their course during the day, until his
memory had learned to map every scene his eyes looked upon. As they
crossed a bit of wooded swamp, they heard the step of some heavy
animal in a jungle near them, but they could get no sight of the
creature and the slushy mud through which it had waded left no
prints that inexperienced eyes could read. They found little ponds
from which small 'gators rose to their calls, but none of a size
worth thinking of. They saw one big alligator sunning itself on a
dry bank, and spent an hour in creeping near it only to find that it
was not over ten feet long. As it grew late and they turned
homeward, Dick said:

"Ever since that otter of yours died I've wanted a pet in camp. We
need one for a watchdog. 'Most any night we might be eaten up for
want of one. Let's take home a young alligator and I'll train it.