Dick in the Everglades

by A. W. Dimock

"Now, Ned, if you'll tie these jaws together, he'll be gentle as a lamb and we'll have a real pet that won't get away like a manatee or die like an otter."

"I'll tie it, and bully for you, Dick, boy! You did that in great shape. I shouldn't wonder if it made a pretty good pet, and I don't care how big its mouth is, it couldn't have a bigger bite than that otter of ours."

The 'gator was less than five feet long and quite babyish in its ways, but it gave Dick a lot of trouble as he was leading it toward their camp.

"Just boost him up on my back, Ned. He's only a baby and wants to be toted."

Ned found it a pretty vigorous baby when he tried to boost it and he got some spanks from its tail that made him think of his tarpon of a few days before. Finally Ned stood in front of his companion, and with his help the reptile was dragged up Dick's back with its forepaws on his shoulder. Dick hung onto the paws, in spite of the sloshing about of his pet's tail for about a quarter of a mile, when he dumped it on the ground and addressing it, said:

"There! You uneasy little cuss, you've got to walk. I don't mind your wiggling your tail, but you tickle my ribs with your hind claws and you pound my head with your hard old jaws. Now come along straight, or instead of being toted you'll get a lickin'."

When they reached camp Dick staked the pet out with a line long enough to let it get into the river when it chose. He took the rope from its jaws, leaving them free, and the 'gator never took advantage of it by trying to bite. At first the pet got very much excited when he was dragged out of the water and up on land, but after awhile he got used to it and seemed to almost enjoy it. Dick caught fish for his pet which always refused to eat them. Then Dick cut the fish in pieces and while Ned held the little 'gator, stuffed them in its mouth and then held its jaws together till it swallowed its food.

"See the baby 'gator sit up, Ned," said Dick one day, after he had been training it for some time. "I'll have him eating with a fork and drinking from a cup in a week."