a little cloud on
the face of Grace. They all knew what it was, and sympathized with her.
No news had come about Will.

They puffed along, to the wonder and admiration of many of the colored
pickers, who stopped to look--any excuse was good enough for
stopping--especially the sight of a motor boat. Suddenly Grace, who was
trailing her hand over the stern, gave a startled cry, and sprang up.

"Oh! oh!" she screamed. "An alligator. I nearly touched the horrid
thing! Go ashore, Betty!"

CHAPTER IX

ON A SAND BAR

"Alligators!" screamed Amy. "Don't you dare say that, Grace!"

"But it's so--I saw one--I nearly put my hand on his big black head. Oh,
isn't it horrid!"

Grace and Amy were clinging to each other now in the middle of the boat.
Betty had turned about at their exclamations, and Mollie was gazing
curiously into the swirling water.

"I don't see any alligator," she announced, unbelievingly. "Are you sure
you saw one, Grace?"

"Of course I am. Oh, Betty! There's one now, just ahead of you. You're
going to run into him!"

Betty turned her attention to guiding the boat only just in time.
Certainly something long and knobby and black was almost at the bow. She
veered to one side, and then exclaimed:

"Alligator! That was nothing but a log, Grace Ford! How silly of you!"

"Silly? Nothing of the sort. I tell you I did see an alligator."

"It was a log--but it does look like one of the big creatures, though,"
said Amy. "Oh, if it should have been one!"

"Well, it couldn't eat us--here in the boat," said Mollie.

"No, but it might have capsized us, and then--" Grace paused
suggestively.

"'All's well that ends well,'" quoted Betty, as she turned the boat
nearer shore. "Some day we must take our lunch, and have a picnic
ashore. See the lovely Spanish moss hanging down from the trees. It's
like living history over again. Just think of it, how Balboa came here
and discovered the land, and----"

"It wasn't Balboa, it was Ponce de Leon who located Florida," corrected
Mollie. "Don't you remember--Flowery Easter?"

"Oh, so it was. Well, anyhow----"

[Illustration: "THERE! THERE!" SCREAMED GRACE. "THERE'S AN
ALLIGATOR!"--_Page 76._

_The Outdoor Girls in Florida._]

"There--there!" screamed Grace. "There's an alligator, surely. It's
alive, too! Oh, dear! An alligator!"

She pointed to something long and dark floating in the river--something
that seemed to be covered with scales and ridges--some