"Russ! Russ!" cried Ruth. "It's an alligator!"
"It can't be!" declared the young moving picture operator. He had stopped working his camera, and was urging the two men from the steamer, who were rowing his boat, to make better progress.
"Deed an' dere am 'gators in dish yeah ribber!" declared one of the colored men.
"Don't let the girls hear you say that!" cautioned Russ.
Paul had obeyed the request of the girls to sit down, but he crawled toward the bow of the boat, which was now moving through the water, up stream, at a fair rate of speed.
"What is it? Oh, what is it?" implored Alice.
"Can you see anything?" Ruth wanted to know.
"Some sort of animal has got hold of our anchor, or the rope," declared Paul, "and it's towing us. I don't think it can be an alligator, though."
"Oh, what will become of us?" gasped Ruth.
"Don't be in the least alarmed!" exclaimed Paul. "All I'll have to do will be to cut the rope, and we'll be free. But I don't want to lose the anchor."