“There!” called Dick. “There, folks, is your alligator! See him?”
But Ann, who had been following the bittern’s course, saw nothing but the splash with which the alligator took the water and disappeared from view. “What a shame!” she cried. “Do you suppose that we’ll see another, Maury?” she asked.
“Certainly we shall. Watch the shores, especially any place where they would be likely to lie out in the sun.”
“It’s like a circus with several rings, isn’t it? While you watch one thing, you miss something else!”
But Ann saw the immense tarpon that leaped out of the water and back. Smaller fishes also disported for their benefit. Finally Ann saw a dark scaly body, curved around on a little hillock where the sun shone between two masses of growth on the shore. “Is that an alligator there?” she asked, pointing to the spot.
“’Tis the very reptile,” replied Ronald, and Dick made the launch move more slowly, to let every one have a good look. Sleeping peacefully, his long, hideous mouth in a “grim smile”, as Eleanor had it, the immense alligator was not disturbed by the passing launch. The deed was done. Ann had seen an “alligator in the wild”! But after that there were perhaps a dozen more of various sizes that they saw, one swimming in the river not far from the launch.
Up the canal at some distance, they stopped at a small place where the larger boat that takes tourists on this ride always makes a stop. There they visited an orange grove that Dick told them about, coming back to the launch laden with the sweet, yellow fruit.
“How do you say we go back, boys?” asked Dick.