The boys hunted around several ponds till Ned found a hole in the bank of one, just under the surface of the water.  Dick handed Ned a pole, which he had cut in the last bit of woods they had passed, and then made a noose on the end of the harpoon line which he carried.  He arranged the noose around the hole in the bank and stood a little back of it holding the line in his hands.

“Now, Ned, just poke that pole down in the mud, all around, about fifteen feet back of this hole, and pretty soon you’ll punch something.  Then, you’ll see fun.”

Ned poked around in the soft ground for awhile, then: 

“Look out, Dick!  Something is wiggling.”

“I’m all here.  Let her come!”

Out came the reptile’s head from the cave, straight through the noose which tightened around the alligator’s neck, as Dick threw his weight back on the line.  At first it tried to back into the cave, but the line held it.  Then it plunged into the pond, but Dick soon yanked it out on the prairie.  It scuttled over the prairie like a great lizard and when the boy jerked it back it ran toward him, but he side-stepped quickly out of reach of that open mouth.  When the reptile became a little quiet, Dick dragged it to the pole which Ned had left sticking in the ground and walking twice around it had the alligator’s head fast to the pole.  Then stepping quickly up to the creature he seized it by the head, holding its jaws firmly together with both hands.

[Illustration:  “OUT CAME THE REPTILE’S HEAD FROM THE CAVE”]

“Now, Ned, if you’ll tie these jaws together, he’ll be gentle as a lamb and we’ll have a real pet that won’t get away like a manatee or die like an otter.”

“I’ll tie it, and bully for you, Dick, boy!  You did that in great shape.  I shouldn’t wonder if it made a pretty good pet, and I don’t care how big its mouth is, it couldn’t have a bigger bite than that otter of ours.”

The ’gator was less than five feet long and quite babyish in its ways, but it gave Dick a lot of trouble as he was leading it toward their camp.

“Just boost him up on my back, Ned.  He’s only a baby and wants to be toted.”

Ned found it a pretty vigorous baby when he tried to boost it and he got some spanks from its tail that made him think of his tarpon of a few days before.  Finally Ned stood in front of his companion, and with his help the reptile was dragged up Dick’s back with its forepaws on his shoulder.  Dick hung onto the paws, in spite of the sloshing about of his pet’s tail for about a quarter of a mile, when he dumped it on the ground and addressing it, said: 

“There!  You uneasy little cuss, you’ve got to walk.  I don’t mind your wiggling your tail, but you tickle my ribs with your hind claws and you pound my head with your hard old jaws.  Now come along straight, or instead of being toted you’ll get a lickin’.”