And so Thad, assisted from time to time by his chums, managed to explain many interesting details connected with Boy Scout lore.
It was a subject of which he never tired, and in which he believed, heart and soul.
Then in turn Thad asked questions, for he knew this man would be able to tell them many interesting facts connected with swamp life.
In turn they heard just how alligators were hunted, usually at night time, with a blazing pine knot in the bow of the dugout, by means of which “flare” their eyes could be “shined,” so that a single shot would place a victim to the credit of the hide hunter; also how the skins were taken off, roughly cured, and what price they brought in the market.
Then the willing guide told how he trapped all such animals as muskrats, raccoons, otter, foxes and others that possessed fur worth securing. Thad knew something about Northern methods along these lines, but he found quite a difference in the way things were done down in Dixie.
“And now,” the scout-master went on to say, “you’ve told us all about the fur, fin and feather of this big swamp, how about the human beings who live in it? We’ve been told they’re a queer lot.”
“Reckon yuh heared ’bout right, son,” admitted the guide, with a smile, “fust thar be quite a few runaway convicts, coons that dassent show themselves back whar they kim from. How they lives I jest don’t know, but my traps is empty more’n a few times, an’ when I sees tracks o’ bare feet alongside I changes the location o’ thet Victor in a hurry. I meet up with a black now an’ then, but they knows old Alligator Smith ain’t agwine tuh do ’em any hurt so they don’t molest me none.”
“Are there others besides?” asked Allan.
“Well, thar’s a feller as I’ve seen right smart, an folks done say as he’s a bad money maker, what they calls a counterfeiter, though I jest don’t know how true that mout be.”
“Whew!” broke in Step Hen, “I’d think a location in the heart of Alligator Swamp would be a pretty safe place for such a mint to hold out. Not much danger of the detectives and revenue men dropping in on him unexpected like.”