GHOSTS AND ALLIGATORS
The boys spent a day exploring the bay to the east and south,
finding but a single creek, which lost itself in the jungle after
wandering a few miles.
"I don't believe we can get through this way," said Dick to his
chum, as they were resting, after an hour of hard work, cutting away
branches of trees and dragging the canoe. "Mr. Streeter told me that
the Indians say there is no creek between the bays at the head of
Broad River, where we are, and the rivers south of it. Suppose we
work our way to the mouth of this river and then follow the coast
down to Harney's, which is the next river south of us and the
longest one in South Florida."
"All right, and we can explore that big creek running west from the
foot of this bay, which we saw yesterday."
The boys found the creek to be deep with swift water, but so crooked
that a snake would have had to slow up to get through it. After two
miles of paddling, which advanced them about half a mile, they found
themselves in a broad smooth-flowing river, the most beautiful
stream they had ever seen. The big trees on the banks were clothed
with airplants, draped with long, flowing gray moss and garlanded
with flowering and sweet-scented vines. Sometimes an opening in the
forest showed broad savannahs, or prairies, or disclosed groups of
tall palmettos or magnificent royal palms, the grandest tree that
grows. The water was mirror-like, and the great trees, capped by a
mass of white clouds in the blue of the heavens, were repeated below
in a reflection that was perfect. The boys paddled for a long time,
silent as if in a dream, when Ned spoke in a voice so low that his
companion could scarcely hear what he said:
"Does it make you think of Heaven, Dick?"
"Guess it does; only," added Dick, in a louder tone, "it will make
you think of the other place, pretty soon."
"What do you mean?"
"It's a deserted river. Only ghosts stay here. The plantations are
grown over, the houses rotting and little sticks in the ground tell
where the old owners are. The climate is so bad that skull and bone
notices grow on the trees. Then things happen. People eat something
and die, or fall out of their boats and drown, or go out in the
woods and stay till the buzzards find them. Oh, but it's the
peaceful, lovely Rodgers River!"
"Why, where did you hear all that, Dick?"
"From Mr. Streeter. He talked a lot and I didn't forget much that
he said. Then Johnny had heard the talk of convicts, and others who
ought to have been, and told me about them almost in a whisper, for
fear somebody would hear him."
"There's a rotting old shack, now, by that date palm. Are you afraid
of ghosts?"
"No, rather like 'em. I wouldn't mind camping with them for a day or
two, with you for company."
[Illustration: "GROUPS OF TALL 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 do, I could. I'm plumb
scared to go in that pond barefoot, but that young Cracker, who's a
year younger than I, waded right in without stopping to think
whether it was safe or not. If Johnny was here he'd have that 'gator
out of that pond, toes or no toes, and that's what I'm going to do,"
and Dick waded barefoot into the pond again and began feeling around
in the mud with his toes.
"If you feel that way about it, I'm with you, Dick," said Ned, as he
began to take off his shoes. But before he reached the water the
reptile had been caught, and Dick waded ashore with the wriggling
little alligator in his hand.
"There's a bigger one in there. He whacked me on the shin with his
tail, just after I caught the little one. Let's get him."
The boys waded side by side, the length of the pond, several times
without finding another 'gator, although the occasional roiling of
the water showed that there were others in the pond. They were about
to give up the hunt when something struck Ned's leg and, grabbing
suddenly at the thing, he found that he had a five-foot alligator by
the head. He held the jaws of the 'gator shut while Dick seized the
hind legs of the reptile, and together they carried the creature
ashore.
"I wonder where that fellow was hidden," said Dick, after the
alligator had been safely tied. "My toes have felt in every inch of
the mud in the bottom of that pond. Maybe there's another one. Let's
get him," and Dick started into the pond.
"Wait till I get some clubs and I'll be with you. There may be a big
'gator in there who wouldn't be satisfied with a toe."
It was well they had clubs when they went back in the pond, for
after a few minutes' searching, Dick struck something, and the tail
of a reptile came to the surface beside him. As he grabbed it with
both hands, and hung on with all his strength, a long body curved
upward from it, a big head was uplifted, and two rows of ivory teeth
gleamed from wide-opened jaws before Dick's eyes. Before the boy
could move or the beast strike, Ned's club came crashing down on the
reptile's head. As the jaws closed and the head fell back, a second
and yet more furious blow fell upon it. As they dragged the stunned
or dead 'gator out of the pond, Ned said:
"I'm going to round-skin this alligator and save the skull, for
mounting. I'll keep it in my den as a reminder of this trip and of
you."
"If it hadn't been for your club, it would have been more of a
reminder of me than it is now."
The alligator came to life a few times, while they were skinning it,
and had to be killed over again, and the tail did some wiggling even
after the spine had been severed. When the skinning operation was
over the boys went back to camp, where they found an old kettle, in
which they boiled the skull of the alligator and cleaned it of flesh
and brains in preparation for mounting.
[Illustration: "HE HELD THE JAWS OF THE 'GATOR SHUT, WHILE DICK
SEIZED THE HIND LEGS OF THE REPTILE"]
"How did you sleep last night, Dick?" asked Ned, the next morning.
"Didn't sleep at all. This place is sure bad medicine. First the
hoots of the owls and the snarls of the wildcats kept me awake, then
the booming of the big alligators worried me, and after I did get to
sleep, the ghost of that alligator that we killed to-day shook his
white teeth in my face, and I could feel the man in the grave under
me trying to push me off of it. Let's get out of this river this
morning, Ned."
As they paddled down Rodgers River, in the bright sunshine, Dick's
spirits rose and when they were off the mouth of the river, headed
down the coast and bound for Harney's River, two miles distant, he
took in his paddle and, calling to Ned to hold steady, vaulted
lightly from the canoe, without even jarring it, and landed on a
sandbank in water that was but little above his waist. Stooping
under the water he picked up clams of several pounds weight each,
with which the bottom was paved, until clam-roasts for days had been
provided for. Getting back into the canoe was a ticklish operation,
but was accomplished without disaster, although a pailful or two of
water was taken aboard.