ke, some on the Kissimmee River, that
connects the lake of that name with Lake Okeechobee, and then we'll go a
little way into the wilds, on various streams."

Ruth and Alice looked at each other apprehensively.

CHAPTER XII

A WARNING

"Beg pardon," said Claude Towne, during a pause in which Mr. Pertell was
consulting some notes he had jotted down, in order to make matters more
clear to his players. "Beg pardon, my dear sir, but are we going to a
_very_ wild part of this country?"

"Why, yes--rather so," was the not very reassuring answer. "You probably
won't be able to get a room and bath at the hotel where we stop."

"Oh, another one of those backwoods places," murmured Miss Pennington.
"How horrid!"

"Is there any--er--any society there?" asked Mr. Towne.

"Hardly," answered the manager, "unless you call the natives society."

"Wretched!" exclaimed the dude, with a wry face.

"Hold on, though!" cried Mr. Pertell, "I believe that there are some of
our first families there."

"Ah, that is better," replied Mr. Towne, adjusting his lavender tie. "I
shall include my evening clothes in my wardrobe, then."

"I'd advise you to," remarked Mr. Pertell, with an assumption of gravity.
"The Seminole Indians, to which I refer, are a very ancient and proud
race, I understand, and doubtless a dress suit would appeal to them. They
are the first families of Florida!"

"Wretched joke!" muttered the actor. "I think I shall not go into the
interior."

"Oh, I think you will," retorted Mr. Pertell, easily. "Your contract
calls for it."

"What about alligators?" asked Mr. Sneed.

"You know my offer--a thousand dollars a big bite," laughed the manager.
"But I don't fancy we shall see half as many as you saw out at the
alligator farm. They are being hunted too fiercely for their skins to
allow many to be around loose. Don't worry about them.

"And now, friends, if you please, get ready for the trip to Lake
Kissimmee. Russ, see to it that you have plenty of film, for we won't be
able to get any out there. Now I leave you to make your arrangements."

There was a buzz and a hum of excitement as the players talked over what
lay before them. Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon rather shared the
disappointment of Mr. Towne that there was no "society" at the place
where they were going. But Ruth and Alice, aside from a little feeling of
apprehension, and of regret at the fate of the two girls of whom they had
read, rather