the two children remained looking at the great
water lizards. Then they started for the place where they had waded from
one island to the other.

But when they reached this place, Sue keeping hold of her brother's hand
all the way, they saw a new trouble.

"Oh, look!" cried Sue, pointing. "We can't get away, Bunny! The wading
place is full of alligators!"

And so it was! While the children had been at the center of the little
island, the alligators had crawled up out of the river, and many were
now sunning themselves on the sand near the ford. One or two were even
on the end of the larger island. And as Bunny and Sue watched, they saw
some swimming around in the shallow water through which the children
had waded a little while before.

"We--we can't get back across!" Sue cried.

"No," agreed Bunny. "I don't b'lieve we can. Not in our bare feet."

Clearly it would have been dangerous to go in among those alligators.
Even Bunny, brave as he was, would not dare to do this.

"Oh, how are we going to get home?" wailed Sue.

Bunny did not know what to answer.

"I want mother!" sobbed Sue. This time she was really crying. Bunny felt
he must do something. He dropped the pointed stick he had intended to
use on the alligators and, putting his arm around Sue, said:

"Don't cry! I'll holler for help and somebody will hear us and come and
get us."

"Will they?" asked Sue.

"Sure!" Bunny answered. "Come on, we'll both call!"

The children united their voices in loud calls of:

"Help! Help! Help!"

For a moment there was no answer. Some of the alligators seemed alarmed
by the noise and scrambled back into the river. But others of the big,
scaly creatures seemed to be crawling up toward Bunny Brown and his
sister Sue.

"Oh, help! Help!" screamed the little girl, and Bunny joined his voice
with hers.

Then, to their delight, they heard a call in answer.

"What's the matter? Who are you? Where are you?" asked a man, who, as
yet, neither Bunny nor Sue could see.

"We're on the island! The alligators are after us!" Bunny answered.

"Don't be afraid! I'll be with you in a minute. They're my alligators
and they got out of the pens," the man went on. This time Bunny and Sue
knew where his voice came from. They looked down the stream and saw an
elderly man, with white hair and a pleasant face, rowing toward them in
a boat.

"Oh, take us away! Take us away!" begged Sue.

"I will," the man said. "How in the world di