partly from the water in front of it.

"An alligator has attacked us!" screamed Alice.




CHAPTER XVII

OUT OF A TREE


Paul sprang to his feet with such suddenness that he nearly upset the
boat, and the girls shrieked in even greater fright.

"Sit down! Oh, sit down!" Alice begged him.

"Russ! Russ!" cried Ruth. "It's an alligator!"

"It can't be!" declared the young moving picture operator. He had stopped
working his camera, and was urging the two men from the steamer, who were
rowing his boat, to make better progress.

"Deed an' dere am 'gators in dish yeah ribber!" declared one of the
colored men.

"Don't let the girls hear you say that!" cautioned Russ.

Paul had obeyed the request of the girls to sit down, but he crawled
toward the bow of the boat, which was now moving through the water, up