“I see you are round-skinning your bear for mounting.  I’m glad of that.  Some day I’ll see it in your house and we’ll be talking about last night.”

“That skin is for you.  I want you to have it stuffed and put where it can watch your alligator.”

“I’m not going to take all the trophies of this trip.  You can bet your life on that.”

“Don’t get slangy, Neddy.  You aren’t used to it and it isn’t becoming.  Besides, we may never get these little souvenirs out of the wilderness.”

By which remark Dick proved himself to be a prophet.

The trail of the bear had been roundabout and had brought Dick within less than a mile of the camp.  The buzzards were gathering and Dick remained to guard the meat while he finished removing the skin and cleaning the skull.  Ned made two trips with good loads and then, taking all they could carry, the boys returned to camp, leaving a big feast for the bird scavengers.

CHAPTER XVI

IN THE CROCODILE COUNTRY

One evening while Dick had one of his alligator pets sitting up on his tail, teaching him to sing, as he told his chum, Ned said: 

“Crocodiles are a lot more interesting than alligators and the Florida crocodile is nearly extinct.  All that are left are in a little strip of land near Madeira Hammock, which is only a mile or two wide and eight or ten long.  Let’s go down to Madeira Hammock and catch some to look at.  We can turn them loose after we are through with them.”

“Mr. Streeter says there is no way to get through to Florida Bay, where Madeira Hammock is, by water from Whitewater Bay.”

“Your outlaw says there is, only you have to tote your canoe some.”

“He isn’t my outlaw.  I don’t sit up nights making maps with him, and anyhow we can’t tote the canoe through a mangrove swamp, and that’s what we’re up against if we go that way.”

“But our outlaw—­the outlaw, if you like—­says we can find little creeks up toward the Glades that will take us almost through.”

“All right.  We’ll start in the morning.  I wish we’d cured about a ton or two less of that meat.  We’ll have to make a lot of trips across the carries.  You don’t see any way to take my alligators along, do you?”

Two days were spent in following creeks that led to nothing and then one was found with a deeper channel which led them for miles, after which it broke up into several little waterways, which were almost without current and so shallow that the boys had to wade and drag their canoe.  Their progress was slow, and they slept on a bed of brush which had lumps and knots to bruise every soft spot on their bodies.  Their next trouble was a strip of mangrove swamp which a cat couldn’t have crawled through.  After following along the mangroves for an hour they found a creek which entered it.  As they followed this creek it grew wider and deepened.  There was a slight current that flowed with them; the water was brackish, and they knew it led to the Bay of Florida and that the Madeira Hammock was near.