a bite that must
have nearly taken off his thumb. After the Indians had gone Dick
looked ruefully over the diminished stores and exclaimed:

"There's going to be a famine in this camp if those Injuns hit us
again."

The next day the boys were very much better and ready for work. Ned
could not hold a paddle with his left hand, so they took a trip into
the Everglades, where the water was so shoal that they used their
paddles as poles and he could push with one hand. They left their
stores in camp, for which afterwards they were glad, and pushed out
several miles among the keys of the Glades, where Dick got a shot at
a deer which was running from one key to another, but made a clean
miss. They saw several alligators and in the afternoon chased one
with the canoe. The boys could go faster than the 'gator, but the
reptile could turn more quickly. At last the canoe was right behind
the quarry and within a few feet of it.

"Give it to her!" yelled Ned, as he seized his paddle in both hands
and threw his weight upon it.

"Here goes!" shouted Dick, as he threw his weight on his paddle,
which, unfortunately, slipped from the point of coral rock on which
it first struck. Dick landed on his back in the water, capsizing the
canoe as he fell. When the young canoemen had picked themselves up,
righted the canoe, and found the rifle, it was too late to look for
the missing alligator, and they plodded slowly home to camp. They
found their captive much tamer. He drank a little water, although he
refused to eat. His leg was badly swollen and they were anxious
about him, and with good reason, for when they awoke in the morning
he was dead.

Ned's last, reckless thrust with his paddle had broken open his
wounds and they became very painful. Dick dressed them again and
warned him that he wasn't to use his hand until he had Dr. Dick's
permission. They explored the creeks around their camp in the canoe,
Dick doing most of the paddling, while Ned helped as well as he
could, with his unhurt arm. The clear water of these little streams
abounded with baby tarpon and other small fish, while often, in the
deeper pools, turtles could be seen scurrying along the bottom. Dick
had never told Ned of the turtle-catching that Johnny had taught
him, so when he said, very casually, "Ned, I think I'll go overboard
and pick up that turtle for supper," Ned replied:

"Don't be an idiot. You couldn't catch that thing in the water in a
thousand years."