"What about alligators?" asked Mr. Sneed.

"You know my offer--a thousand dollars a big bite," laughed the manager.
"But I don't fancy we shall see half as many as you saw out at the
alligator farm. They are being hunted too fiercely for their skins to
allow many to be around loose. Don't worry about them.

"And now, friends, if you please, get ready for the trip to Lake
Kissimmee. Russ, see to it that you have plenty of film, for we won't be
able to get any out there. Now I leave you to make your arrangements."

There was a buzz and a hum of excitement as the players talked over what
lay before them. Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon rather shared the
disappointment of Mr. Towne that there was no "society" at the place
where they were going. But Ruth and Alice, aside from a little feeling of
apprehension, and of regret at the fate of the two girls of whom they had
read, rather welcomed the coming change.

"It will be a new experience for us," exulted Alice.

"And I hope it will be a pleasant one," rejoined Ruth.

Final visits were paid to points of interest in St. Augustine. It would
be some time before they would see it again, as Mr. Pertell intended
remaining in the interior for several weeks, and then going back to New
York by a different route.

"We must have another drink from the Fountain of Youth," laughed Alice,
the day before their departure. "Who knows but what it may preserve us,