"What's over there?" asked Freddie, pointing to where a crowd of people were standing near some pools in the middle of the floor.
"Oh, different big fish—a sea lion, alligators and turtles," said Mr. Bobbsey.
"Let's look at the sea lion!" called Flossie.
"I want to see a swimming turtle," said Freddie. "I had a mud turtle once, but he went away."
"You shall see everything," promised Mr. Bobbsey.
They went over to the pool, where a number of large alligators, and one crocodile, were lying in or out of the water. Some were lazily swimming about, and the crocodile was asleep out on the stone ledge, with his big mouth wide open.
"He's waiting for some one to come along and feed him," said Bert.
"I guess he'd eat a lot," laughed Freddie, looking at the rows of big teeth in the crocodile's mouth.
They passed on to the pool of the sea lion. That sleek, brown animal was swimming about like a big fish, now and then stopping under one of the pipes where the water ran into his pool, and holding his mouth under the little stream as though taking a drink. Now and then he barked like a dog.
Around the stone ledge, or wall of the pool, was a wire grating, and near the floor was a sort of pipe running all around, so the smaller children could step up on this to look in—something which the big folk did not have to do.