Mass' George

"Well, what of it? This is 'gator country. Rattlesnakes, they tell me, likes the high, dry, hot, stony places."

"Yes--father said so," I replied in a whisper, as I looked cautiously round.

"Well then, what are you looking for?"

"Indians," I whispered, for I had recalled how the savages had surrounded us while our attention was taken up by the last noxious creature we had attacked.

At my words Morgan made a bound, and then began to move past a tree.

But he stopped short, and returned to my side, looking wildly round the while.

"See 'em--see any of 'em?" he whispered.

"No; but suppose they have stolen upon us again as they did before!"

"Yah! What do you mean by frightening a man? I teclare to cootness it's too bad of you, Master George."

I smiled once more, for Morgan's speech had sounded very droll and Welsh, as it often was when he grew excited.

"You t.i.t it to scare me," he said, angrily.

"Indeed, no."

"Yes, inteet," he said; "and look you--I say, Master George, was it meant for a choke?"

"Indeed, no, Morgan; I really felt startled."

"Then it's all right," he said. "There's none of 'em here, so let's get home."

"But what are you going to do with the alligator?"

"Eh? Oh, I never thought of that. I wanted to catch him so that you might have a bit of fun."

"But now we have caught him?"

"Well, dunno, my lad. Might take him home and chain him up. Turn down a barrel to make him a kennel; he can bark."

"Oh, nonsense! We can't do that."

"He's no good to eat, though they say the savages eat 'em. Here, I know; let's take him home, and ask master what's to be done with him."

"Take him home?" I faltered.

"Ay, to be sure. I'll lead him by the string, and you can come behind and give him a poke with the pole when he won't go. Ought by rights to have two ropes, like they do at home with a vicious cow; then when he ran at me, you could pull; and when he ran at you, I could pull him back."

"But we haven't two ropes. That isn't long enough to cut, and I can't stop him if he runs at you."

"Might pull his tail," said Morgan.

"Ugh!" I e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed, as I recalled the use the creature could make of it, giving blows that I knew would knock me off my feet.

"Well then, I tell you what; let's leave him tied up as he is, and get back. The master will be wondering where we are, and fancying all sorts of trouble."

"Seems cruel," I said. "The creature will be strangled."

"Not he. If he does, he'll strangle himself. I never feel very merciful to things that go about doing all the harm they can as long as they live. Say, shall I kill him at once?"

"No; let's leave

Morgan examined the knot he had made, and then started away, for the reptile made a lash at him with its tail, and in retort he took out his big-bladed knife, opened it, and held it out threateningly.

"It's all very well, look you," he said; "but if you'd hit me with that tail of yours, I'd have had it off as sure as you're alive."

It was Morgan's farewell to the alligator as we turned off with our poles, broken and sound, and hurried back to find my father with a gun over his arm, fast coming in search of us.

CHAPTER NINE.

"I was afraid something was wrong," he said. "And look here, Morgan, I want to live at peace with all the world, but self-preservation is the first law of nature, and I would rather you did not leave the place again unarmed.--Well, George," he continued, turning to me, "where have you been?"

I told him of our adventure, and he was thoughtful for a few moments.

"You must go together in the morning and kill the thing," he said. "I don't like destroying life, but these wild creatures of the forest and swamp must give way to man. If they do not they must perish. All deadly creatures must be killed without mercy. There is not room in the parts of the earth we chose to live in for both."

Consequently, after making our arrangements, I called Morgan at daybreak, and we took a gun and ammunition to execute the alligator.

"Be a lesson for you in the use of a firelock, Master George," said Morgan, as we travelled on across our clearing, and paused at the edge of the forest. "Now then, my lad," he cried, giving his orders in a military way, and bidding me load.

I had seen the charging of a gun often enough to be able to go through the task sufficiently well to get a few words of commendation, but a good many of blame.

"Ram well home, my lad. I like to see the rod hop again, and the powder solid."

"What difference does it make?" I asked.

"All the difference in the world, my lad. Powder's rum stuff, and good loading makes it do its work well. Bad loading makes it do its work anyhow."

"I don't understand you," I said.

"It's easy enough, sir. S'pose I take a charge of powder, and lay it loose on a stone. If I set light to it there's a puff and some smoke, and that's all, because it has plenty of room. But if I shut it up tight in a gun-barrel rammed down hard, it goes off with a loud bang, because it has to burst its way out. If you ram lightly, the bullet will go only a little way. If you ram hard, your bullet will go straight to the mark."

"There it is then, rammed hard," I said, as I made the ramrod ring.

"That's right. Now you shall shoot the 'gator. Some folks say their skin's too hard for the bullet to go through. We shall see."

We went on together toward our landing-place, and then on and away to the left, following our previous day's trail more and more into the swamp, beside the river, talking about the fight we had had with the reptile, Morgan laughingly saying that he should like to have another with one twice as big, while I thought I should not, but did not say so.

The morning was delightful, with the birds piping and singing, and in the open sunny parts we caught sight of the lovely orange orioles, and those all yellow and black--birds which took the place of our thrushes and blackbirds of the old country. Every now and then a tall crane would fly up from where he had been prodding about with his sharp bill in some mossy pool, his long legs trailing out behind him as if he had been dancing on stilts.

It had all grown familiar to me now, but I was never tired of gazing at the dark, shadowy places where the cypresses rose right out of the black water, and the great trailing moss, ten and fifteen feet long, hung down from the boughs like ragged veils. The place looked as if it might be the haunt of large, water-loving serpents, or strange beasts which lurked in waiting for the unwary traveller; but we heard nothing but the cries of birds and the rustling and beating of wings, or the hum of insect life, save now and then when there was a splash from the river away to our right, or from a black pool hidden from us by the dense growth.