t picture of the
Jumping Frog that would have made in our scrap-book. Why on earth didn't
you tell me you were going to do it, and I could have been ready to snap
you off?"

"Hear that man, with me down in this ooze, soaked to the skin! Wait till
I find a chance to get at him!" groaned Jerry, shaking his fist upward,
in mock anger, though at the time he was grinning amiably.

"While you are down there, pard, why not take a look, and see if we
scraped the paint off the boat's nose when we banged that log," suggested
practical Frank.

"That's so. Make the best of a bad bargain. Why, no; nothing doing, boys.
This stem is made of solid brass, and could stand many a hard bump. I
think Cousin Archie must have been warned in advance, and had her made
doubly staunch," sang out Jerry.

"Can you see the snag anywhere around?" asked Frank.

"Not here. Perhaps we're down below it now."

"Or it may have been an alligator, fellows. Some of the natives told me
there are a few in this old stream," observed Bluff.

"Yes, and there he is now!" shouted Will. "He crawled up on the bank to
dry off, and is going to jump in again! Oh! why _wasn't_ I ready! Look
out, Jerry! He's coming for you!"

Jerry was already in motion. The notion of meeting an alligator might
have appealed to him, but not under these circumstances. He struck out
like a madman as he struggled to get to a point where he could reach up
and clasp the eager hands extended down to him, for he had heard the
splash that announced the reptile's taking to the water.

Of course, the little six-foot 'gator was by long odds the more scared
of the two, but then Jerry, being a greenhorn, did not know that. When
finally the others managed to drag him, dripping, one deck, he was
panting like a tired dog and puffing like a grampus.

"Talk to me about your narrow squeaks, they don't appeal to me one little
bit!" he gasped. "Where's the old alligator monster now, Will? Did you
snap him off?"

"He never came up again. That's just my luck, you know."

"Better times coming, Will. You'll take many pictures of 'gators on logs
and sunny banks before we finish this little trip," laughed Frank.

"Yes, I know what you're laughing at," grunted Jerry, "and I suppose I
did look like a big frog as I sailed away off the bow. After this the
lookout ought to be tied to his seat. It was lucky, though, you had so
little headway on, Frank. We might have ended our cruise half an hour
after we b