“What’s the matter?” he wanted to know. “I’ll go up and help you, Daddy,” he offered, when told of the trouble.
“All right—come along,” agreed his father. “You had better go back to bed,” Mr. Martin suggested to his wife.
“Yes, I’ll stay with Trouble and Janet,” she agreed.
It was dark up on deck, for the Pine Tree was anchored in the river away from any town or city. The stars alone dispelled the blackness of the night.
But Mr. Martin had a powerful flashlight with him, and, switching this on, he held it over the side, focusing the electric rays on the water. Then he noticed something that made him exclaim in wonder.
“What’s the matter?” asked Ted.
“Why, we’re going upstream instead of down,” was the answer. “If we were dragging our anchor we would float down the river with the current. We wouldn’t go up as we do when the motor is running.”
“The motor isn’t running now,” said Ted, and it was not—the engine having been shut off when they anchored for the night. “But what makes us move, Daddy?”
“Something has hold of our anchor rope and is pulling us upstream by it,” said Mr. Martin.
“You mean an alligator?” asked Ted. “Oh, I wish it was daylight! I’d like to see an alligator!”