stopped here. Their folks live just outside the town."

"And you say they went out to get rare flowers?" asked Ruth, as she noted
Miss Pennington and Miss Dixon coming into the hotel parlor.

"Yes. The girls are real outdoors girls," went on the clerk. "They can
hunt and fish, and Miss Mabel, I believe it was, once shot a big
alligator."

"Alligators! Oh, dear! Are any of the horrid things around here?" broke
in Miss Dixon.

"Not right around here," was the reassuring answer. "This was out in the
swamps."

"We are talking about two girls who have disappeared from here, and can't
be found," explained Alice, for the story was bound to come out now.

"Oh, how perfectly dreadful!" cried Miss Pennington, as the account was
completed. "We must be careful about going out alone, my dear," she added
to her friend.

"Not much danger--you'll always want some of the men along," thought
Alice.

"What sort of flowers were they after?" Ruth wanted to know.

"Some sort of orchid," was the hotel man's answer. "I don't know much
about such things myself, but Mr. Madison, the girls' father, is quite a
naturalist, and I guess they take after him. He collects birds, bugs and