Bobby Blake on a Plantation; Or, Lost in the Great Swamp
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CHAPTER XX
THE ALLIGATOR’S JAWS
“Thank Heaven,” gasped Lee, as the three boys threw themselves down andlay panting in the grateful shade of a big tree. “I’m all in. I couldn’tpossibly have gone half a mile more.”
“I guess we’re about as bad,” said Fred. “I’m willing to admit that Iwas never so near the end of my rope. Any one would have thought youknew this island was here, Bobby, from the way you headed for it.”
“It was just a guess,” declared Bobby. “I figured that probably if wegot further away from the river the ground might be less swampy and itwould pay us to go in that direction even if we were getting fartherfrom home.”
“We wouldn’t have got there very fast the way I was heading you anyway,”said Lee. “Poor mother will be terribly worried about us.”
“Yes,” agreed Bobby soberly, “that’s the trouble; when, we fellows getinto trouble of any kind, our mothers suffer more over it than we do.”
In a short time they had recovered a good deal from their strenuousexertions, and now all three found themselves ravenously hungry. But tofeel hungry and to satisfy that hunger were two very different things,as they soon discovered. They had read of people marooned on islands inthe ocean, but in every such case there had seemed to be a convenientflock of goats or a handy beach strewn with shellfish. But after theboys had thoroughly ransacked their island, they found no suchconvenient supply. The place was only about a quarter of a mile across,hemmed in on every side with brown water and black mud.
Luckily, however, they had hung onto their fishing rods, and they had nodifficulty in digging up a plentiful supply of worms in the rich earth.Fred was the first to get a bite, and he reeled in the fish as fast ashe could, being much too eager to see the fish toasting over a fire tomake any attempt to “play” him. It was not long before they had foursmall fish, and these they proceeded to clean and kill without wastingany time over it.
“Scubbity-yow!” exclaimed Fred, as he bit into the delicious morsel, “Inever knew a fish could taste so good. These fellows are only samples.We’ll have to get busy and catch about a hundred more before I’ll feelsatisfied.”
“If you’ll eat a hundred, I’ll catch them for you,” laughed Bobby.
“And I’ll clean them and cook them for you,” seconded Lee.
“All right, go ahead and start in,” said Fred, but the others were notto be taken in so easily.
“No, you don’t,” laughed Bobby. “You get busy and catch some yourself.I’ll bet you couldn’t eat two more to save your life.”
“Well, I’d have a lot of fun trying, anyway,” said Fred, regretfully.“But if you fellows are too lazy to catch fish for me, I suppose I’llhave to do it myself.”
“Looks a lot that way,” agreed Lee, as he cast his line into the water.“You’d better hurry, too, before Bobby and I have them all out.”
They caught and ate fish until they could eat no more, and then lay downin the shade to rest.
“This might be worse, I suppose,” said Bobby, chewing reflectively on along blade of grass. “A couple of hours ago it would have seemed likeHeaven to us.”
“It isn’t so bad here,” said Lee, “but we can’t stay here forever, andafter we leave we’ll be as badly off as we were before.”
“Likely,” admitted Bobby, “but then, on the other hand, it doesn’t seempossible we’ll strike anything worse than we went through this morning,anyway.”
“Oh, cut out worrying about the future,” broke in Fred. “For my part,I’ve had enough to eat—although I’ll admit a steady fish diet isbeginning to get tiresome—and I’ve got a soft and shady place to liewhere I can hear the little birdies singing. So why worry, say I.”
“Yes,” said Lee, scornfully, “and you can hear the pretty alligatorssinging, too, if you listen hard. Not to mention the mosquitoes andbull-frogs.”
“Better let him be cheerful while he can, Lee,” said Bobby. “He’ll soonforget how happy he is after we get started again.”
“Well, we’ve got a lot to be thankful for, anyway,” contended Fred.“Suppose we’d all been as fat as Pee Wee, and had to go hopping throughthis everlasting swamp like—like—”
“Like turkeys on a hot stove?” suggested Lee.
“That seems to about cover it.” said Fred, with a laugh, “even if itisn’t very complimentary to us. But as I was saying, if we’d all been asfat as Pee Wee, we’d never have got here at all. This swamp was neverintended for heavyweights.”
“I don’t think it was ever intended for any kind of human being,” saidLee.
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” said Bobby. “It strikes me that thiswould be an ideal place to put Ap Plunkit and Ben Tompkins, forinstance.”
“Wow!” yelled Fred, delightedly. “You certainly had an idea that time,Bobby. And while we’re at it, why not Sandy Jackson and his friend,Snath? Seems to me they’d fit in pretty well, too.”
“Come to think of it, though,” said Bobby, with a serious air, “don’tyou think it would be playing it rather low down on the poor alligators!What have they ever done to us that we should wish that bunch on them?”
“Perhaps you’re right,” conceded Fred. “I hadn’t thought of that before.But I guess some of those big fellows we saw this morning are able totake care of themselves.”
“I don’t know who those fellows are you’re talking about, except Snath,”said Lee, “but if they’re any meaner than alligators, I don’t want toknow anything about them. They’re the meanest things alive, I think.”
“Speaking of ’gators reminds me,” said Bobby, “why not try and locatesome of those eggs you were telling us about, Lee? A little change ofdiet wouldn’t do us any harm.”
“All right, let’s look for some,” said Lee, springing to his feet, “thatis, if Fred isn’t having too good a time doing nothing to be disturbed.”
“No rest for the wicked,” groaned Fred, scrambling to his feet. “Leadon, Lee, I’m with you.”
The three boys followed around the shore, looking for a sandy beach,which, as Lee told them, was the most likely place to find the eggs. Leehad cut himself a sharp stick, and when they had at last found a sandyplace, he stuck this into the sand at intervals, afterwards examiningthe end to see if it had found a nest. After quite a time spent infruitless proddings, he at last met with success. The end of the stickcame up dripping yellow.
“Here’s a nest!” he shouted. “Dig in, fellows and we’ll soon have all wewant.”
Suiting the action to the word, he began scooping up the sand with hishands, and Bobby and Fred followed suit. In a short time they haduncovered a small heap of alligator eggs, each one about the size of agoose’s egg. Absorbed in their find, they had no thought of danger,until suddenly Bobby, chancing to glance up, gave a wild yell ofwarning. Springing to their feet, Fred and Lee saw a huge alligator,measuring a good fifteen feet, almost on top of them, great jaws gapingand small, vicious eyes snapping wickedly!