“I sure am,” replied Dick, and as the paddles dipped together in the water, the alligator, suspicious of them, slowly sank from their sight.

At the end of the bay the boys found a deep, narrow river with a current which Dick supposed was tidal, but which Johnny thought came from the Glades.  Dick tasted the water and was surprised to find that instead of being salt it had the sweetish taste of merely brackish water.  There were birds of many kinds in the trees on the banks of the river, and as the boys paddled against the current Johnny saw a brace of ducks swimming ahead of the canoe.  He took in his paddle and picked up the shotgun, which, with much forethought, he had placed beside himself in the canoe before starting out.  Dick paddled very slowly and quietly toward the ducks until they were within easy range.  Johnny had been told that if he wanted to be a real sportsman he must never fire at birds with a shotgun unless they were flying.  So he waited until the ducks rose before firing at them.  The next instant a bird fell heavily on the water a few yards ahead of the canoe.

“Why, that bird fell out of this tree!” said the astonished Dick.  “I didn’t know you fired up in a tree.”

“I didn’t,” replied Johnny.  “That was a water-turkey, and he isn’t hurt a bit.  They often act so when they’re scared.  Watch out for him under the bank.”

In a minute or two Dick saw a long, snake-like head and neck thrust out of the water by the bank.  The head twisted about with a quick, jerky motion till the bird’s eyes rested on the canoe, when it disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.

“What became of the ducks?” said Dick.

“Reckon we’ll find one of ’em ’round that p’int.  The other got away.”  Johnny was right, and the duck was found just around the point.

At some places the river narrowed into deep creeks and at others broadened out into wide, shallow bays, where the boys were puzzled to find the inlet they wanted.  It was nearly noon when they struck a stream of quite a different sort from anything they had previously seen.  Its mouth lay between banks that were high for Florida, and through it flowed a stream of crystal-clear water, which, to the great relief and delight of the boys, was fresh as a mountain brook The bed of the stream looked like sand to Dick, but when he thumped it with his paddle he found it was coral rock.  Suddenly Johnny called to him: 

“Watch out fur the boat,” and resting his hands on the sides of the craft leaped into the water without disturbing in the least the balance of the canoe.