Bartram beat them off with his club, and paddled for the shore.  When he got near the shore, the alligators left him.  He went a little farther up the river, and got some fish.  When he came back, he kept close to the shore.  One alligator twelve feet long followed him.  When Bartram went ashore near his camp, the creature crept close to his feet, and lay there looking at him for some time.

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Bartram ran to his camp to get his gun.  When he came back, the alligator was climbing into his boat to get the fish he had caught.  He fired his gun, and killed the great beast.  But while he was cleaning his fish, another one crept up to him, and would have dragged him into the water if Bartram had not looked up just in time to get out of his way.  The next day he was pursued by more alligators; but he beat them off with his club, and got away.

JASPER.

“Marion’S Men” were famous in the Revolution for their bold adventures.  The best known of all these bold men was Sergeant Jasper.  At the battle of Fort Moultrie, when the flag of the fort was shot away, Jasper jumped down outside of the works, and picked it up.  The balls were raining round him all the time he was outside, but he coolly fastened the flag to a rod which was used to wipe out the cannon, and then stuck it up in the sand of the breastworks.

When General Moultrie saw what he had done, he took off his own sword and gave it to Sergeant Jasper.

When Moultrie and his men were hiding in the swamps of South Carolina, Moultrie would send Jasper to find out what the British were doing.  Jasper could change his looks so that nobody would know him.  He often went into the British camp, pretending to be on that side.

Once he took a friend with him, and paid a visit to the British soldiers.  While he was there, a small party of American prisoners were brought in.  The wife of one of the prisoners had come with her husband, carrying her child.  As these men had once fought on the English side, they were all likely to be put to death.  Jasper felt sorry for them, and resolved to deliver them if he could.

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The prisoners were sent to Savannah for trial.  Jasper and his friend left the British camp soon afterward, but they went in the opposite direction.  When they got far enough away, they turned about and followed the party with the prisoners.  But what could they do for these poor fellows?  There were ten men with muskets to guard the prisoners.  Neither Jasper nor his friend had a gun.

But they knew that near Savannah there was a famous spring of water.  They thought the party would stop there to eat and drink.  So Jasper and his friend went on swiftly, by a path little known.  When they came near the spring, they hid in the bushes.

When the soldiers with their prisoners came to the spring, they halted.  The prisoners sat down on the ground.  The woman sat down near her husband.  Her baby fell asleep in her lap.  Six of the soldiers laid down their arms, and four stood guard.