"I didn't mean to, my dear," was the gentle answer.
"I know you didn't, and it was mean of me to talk that way," and a plump, bare arm stole around the other's neck, while a hand was run through the golden hair. "But, don't let's think so much about them. Perhaps they are not those two girls we met, after all."
"Oh, I don't believe they can be," Ruth agreed. "That would be too much of a coincidence. But they are two girls—"
"Not necessarily. Maybe it's only an unfounded rumor. Russ says newspaper men often 'plant' a story like this off in some obscure place, and then use it as the basis for one of those lurid stories in the Sunday supplements.
"I shouldn't wonder a bit but what this was one of those cases. So, sister mine, go to sleep in peace, and in the morning you'll have forgotten all about it. Only don't let's tell any one, for some of the company, like Mr. Sneed, might make trouble for Mr. Pertell, saying alligators were there."
"Well, there are."
"Perhaps. But who cares? I'd like to get one ordinary-sized 'gator."
"Why, Alice! What for?"
"I've always wanted an alligator bag, and I never could afford it. Now's my chance. But we may never get far enough into the interior for that. By the way, where did it say those girls started from? I didn't half read it."
"From Sycamore, near Lake Kissimmee."