me, Harvey whistled. Suddenly the waters parted.
There, right below them, was a head more fearful than anything Beth had
imagined. There was no doubt of the reality of this fearful
apparition. The jaws and teeth that Harvey had spoken about were even
worse than he had predicted. Slowly, slowly, those loathsome jaws
parted. Beth looked down into that awful gulf, like a great dark pit,
opening to receive her. There were the two rows of gleaming white
teeth ready to devour girls who screamed. How she kept from screaming
she never knew. Perhaps she was too much paralyzed with fear.
However, she kept so still that she hardly breathed. The color ebbed
out of her face.

Harvey picked up some meat that lay on the wharf beside him, and threw
that and the bread into the waiting mouth below. The jaws snapped
together, and opened again as suddenly.

Beth shuddered a little, involuntarily. She wondered if she would have
disappeared as quickly as the meat if she had screamed.

Harvey had no more food for the animal below. It waited an instant,
then slowly sank. The waters closed where the head had been. Beth
felt as though she were wakening from a horrible nightmare.

"Three cheers for Beth," cried Harvey so unexpectedly that she gave a
great start.

"Was it a dragon?" asked Beth with her eyes unnaturally big.

He laughed. "A dragon---- No, indeed. It's only a 'gator."

"A 'gator---- Would it really have eaten me if I had screamed?"

"It might, although I said that to try you. They do say, though, that
'gators sometimes eat pickaninnies. The Northerners who come down here
winters are killing off the 'gators pretty fast, so the pickaninnies
are likely to live. Now mind, Beth, don't say a word about my 'gator.
You see if my folks heard about it, they might put a stop to my feeding
it. They don't think 'gators as nice as I do."

"I think they are just horrid."

Harvey laughed. "Oh, you'll like them in time."

She had her doubts about ever being fond of such pets, but did not say
so.

"I can't whistle, but would it come if I could whistle, Harvey?"

He looked very superior. "No, indeed. It won't come for any one but
me."

"How did you get it to come for you?"

"Well, you see, I used to watch that 'gator in the river; then began
bringing food for it. I reckon it thought that an easy way to live,
and it soon grew to know me. Then it learned my whistle. That's all."

Beth now remembered that h