while Dick wondered if he could
have missed, and then sank slowly to the ground, dead. At the report
of the rifle the other deer, which was a doe, scampered a few
yards, then, turning back her head, gazed with wondering eyes upon
her fallen mate. Johnny took from his pocket a cartridge, and,
holding it between thumb and finger, looked inquiringly at Dick.
Dick shook his head, and in another instant the doe had scampered
out of danger. Dick helped Johnny skin and dress the deer, and
learned a lot while doing so, but he seemed less happy than a boy
should be after killing his first deer.

"Johnny, I wish that buck hadn't looked at me out of his big eyes
just when I was killing him. If I had waited a second I believe I
wouldn't have fired."

"Glad ye didn't wait, then. Why didn't yer worry about th' 'gator?
'Gators has fine eyes."

When the boys started on again they counted their loads light, but
after they had crossed the glade and waded and wallowed through a
mile or two of swamp they were of a different opinion. When at last
they had crossed the swamp and only a bit of prairie lay between
them and the Everglades, they were glad enough to throw down their
packs for a long rest. The Everglades were before them, but where
was their camp? In that open country they could have seen it for
three, perhaps four, miles. Johnny had studied the country around
the camp when they left it the day before, but could see nothing
familiar now. However, the boy wasn't worried.

"Reckon we're too fur north. Better go south a few miles, 'nd if we
don't find it we'll turn 'round 'nd go t'other way. All we got ter
do is t' stick t' the saw-grass," said he.

For a quarter of a mile the tramp was an easy one. Then the boys
struck a hit of boggy ground, in which they sank over their knees at
every step. When the ground became firmer the water got deeper, and
after wading half a mile without a chance to lay down his pack and
rest, Dick said:

"Johnny, I always heard that Florida deer were small, but this one
must have weighed a ton. Wonder if your half is as heavy as mine.
I've got to sit down on that hummock and rest."

Dick waded to the hummock and sat down on it, wondering what Johnny
was laughing at. The next minute he understood, for the hummock gave
a heave and Dick rolled off into the water, while a scared alligator
scurried away through the water and mud of the prairie. The hummock
was only a pile of loose grass such as alligato