“We may do bigger shooting in the Everglades, to-morrow,” he suggested. “Still, one big brute like this in a day is sport enough for any crowd.”
“I’m sure it’s one of the beasts that crowded us off the island,” asserted Ida Silsbee.
“It looks very much like the one that charged you,” Tom assented.
“Then you two adventurers told no fibs about the size,” laughed Mr. Tremaine. “That fellow is fully a dozen feet long.”
“What are you going to do with your prize, Captain?” asked Mrs. Tremaine, as Joe drove the launch northward at somewhat diminished speed on account of the tow behind.
“Does the ’gator belong to me?” Halstead asked.
“It certainly does,” nodded Mr. Tremaine.
“Then I offer the hide and the teeth to Mrs. Tremaine and Miss Silsbee,” responded the young motor boat captain.
Both ladies expressed their thanks.
“If I get a second one,” Tom continued, “I shall send the hide to a manufacturer to have a genuine alligator bag or two made for my mother.”