ld creatures that were fascinated by the light; and on the
land 'coons sat motionless, two dots of greenish light told of a
hypnotized wildcat, and when all on the skiff saw the light
reflected from two big, round eyes, while the captain held the beam
from the lantern steadily upon them, Dick whispered:

"What is it?"

"A big buck. Wish I didn't have a blank cartridge in the rifle,"
replied the captain.

They cruised for half a mile up Broad River, then back to its mouth
against a tide that made the captain take the oars of the skiff, to
which the painter of the motor-boat was then fastened. Then Ned
sculled to the mouth of Rodgers River, where, upon a little beach,
the captain first saw the gleam for which he had been looking. Then
for a few minutes Dick took the oar and slowly and more slowly
sculled toward those little round stars. Soon the light from the
bull's-eye on the captain's forehead showed the head and body of the
reptile, which remained as motionless as if cast in bronze, while
Dick held the skiff in place that the launch might come near. With
the roar of the blank cartridge came the scream of a girl and the
quick scrambling of the alligator into the water. Every one wanted
to continue the hunt, but the rising of the moon put a stop to the
sport.

[Illustration: "THE LIGHT FROM THE BULL'S EYE SHOWED THE HEAD AND
BODY OF THE REPTILE"]

In the morning the tide was rushing up the river, and with it came
rolling porpoises and schools of leaping tarpon.

"Couldn't you catch one of those tarpon?" asked Molly.

Dick said nothing, but Ned shook his head slowly, and Molly
understood that he couldn't so quickly forget that desperate
struggle in the water, during which two lives hung by a thread after
a tarpon had wrecked their canoe.

As the _Irene_ sailed up the river birds flew from the trees on her
approach, alligators slid from their beds on the banks, and otters
lifted their round heads above the surface of the stream. Six miles
from its mouth the river spreads out into a bay, and as the boat was
entering it Mr. Barstow called out:

"There is your manatee, sure enough, boys!"

A big, ugly head appeared beside the _Irene_ for an instant,
followed by a column of water thrown in the air by the huge
porpoise-like tail of the frightened animal. The anchor was quickly
dropped and the little motor-boat, with Dick at the wheel and Mr.
Barstow and Molly as passengers, started in pursuit of the sea-cow.
Cap