ttle crocodile, gathered a lot of
grass for his bed and stowed him away in the hold where he would be
safe from the attentions of Tom. There was not enough lumber on
board to make a box for the big crocodile and the brute was put
overboard to pasture at the end of a hundred-foot line. As soon as
the crocodile was overboard Dick drew it beside the boat and untied
its jaws. At first it tried to get away, but soon gave it up and
thereafter rose to the surface every few minutes and gazed gravely
upon its new friends on the boat. When later the _Irene_ was ready
to sail, Dick drew his pet up to the side of the boat and tied his
jaws without remonstrance from the reptile. It took three of them to
haul the creature aboard, where it was fastened to a ringbolt on
deck for the first stage of its journey to the Zoo.

[Illustration: "THEY HAULED THE HEAD OF THE BRUTE OVER THE SIDE OF
THE BOAT"]

"Captain Hull," said Ned, as the whole party were watching the stars
from the cabin top and waiting for the moon to rise that night, "we
have got back from the Madeira Hammock every thing we lost there, so
we will start for Miami to-morrow."

"Aye, aye, sir."

"You know you said we might lose a day round here, and now we have
got a day to spare."

"You'll be lucky if you don't lose it. There's lots of chances
between here and Miami, or between here and anywhere. There isn't
six inches between the _Irene's_ bottom and the rocks this minute
and we're going to stir the mud a dozen times to-morrow."

"Supposing a storm comes while we are anchored so near the rocks?"

"Anybody who supposes in this country won't ever do anything else."

"Would we make anything by another night run?"

"Make sure to pile up on a bank so high that you'd have time to
homestead a farm before you got off."

The _Irene_ stirred the mud a few times the next day, but passed
through Blackwater, Barnes and Card sounds and all the cuts and
channels to Biscayne Bay without trouble. There a high wind and a
heavy sea held her back, so that it was dusk when the anchor was
dropped just outside of the mouth of Miami River. During this, their
last evening on the cabin roof of the _Irene_, Mr. Barstow said to
Dick:

"Do you feel perfectly well and strong again?"

"Never felt so well before in my life and am getting my strength
back fast."

"Then vacation ends for you and Ned to-day. To-morrow morning you
will take the train for the North, where you will have about