ll!"

"Tie on another quick while I try to catch him," and Neal ventured
further into the water, throwing the line as far as possible toward the
other side.

The thought came into Jake's mind that, while no alligators had been
seen when they first entered it was by no means certain one or more
would not follow down the course of the stream, and he was on the point
of warning Neal not to venture too far from the edge of the shore, when
there was a mighty splash, a cry of fear and pain from the fisherman,
and the engineer shouted regardless of the fact that the enemy might be
close at hand:

"Help! An alligator has got Neal!"

CHAPTER XX.

A DESPERATE STRUGGLE.

There was no necessity for the outcry. The splashing of the water told
Cummings what had happened even before Jake had time to shout, and he
started forward at full speed, carrying with him the materials for
torches.

When Jake and Teddy were in a condition to understand anything, for the
sudden attack had bewildered them to a certain extent, Neal was lying
face downward upon the sand, and being slowly dragged backward.

The alligator had evidently snapped at his leg, and, missing his aim,
had caught the boy's trousers rather than the flesh. Instead of
releasing his hold for a better grip, he was trying to drag Neal into
deeper water, and once there the struggle would have been quickly ended.

Neal had dug his hands into the sand, straining every muscle to prevent
being pulled into the stream; but despite all efforts the monster was
rapidly getting the best of him.

Cummings lost no time after arriving on the scene of action. The boys'
cries had guided him to the exact spot, and he waited only long enough
to kindle a blaze before joining in the fight.

"Teddy, go back to the entrance, get one of the guns, and be sure that
no one comes through, for we are likely to make so much noise here that
if any of the enemy are in the vicinity we shall be discovered. Jake,
you are to hold the torch, and take good care that it burns brightly."

Cummings was armed with nothing but his hunting knife and by this time
the alligator had dragged fully half of Neal's body into the water.
There seemed to be but little hope that the boy could be rescued before
serious injury had been inflicted.

Pulling off his coat and belt Cummings leaped boldly on the back of the
saurian monster, burying the blade of his knife in the alligator's eye
at the same time, and the