"An alligator has attacked us!" screamed Alice. CHAPTER XVII OUT OF A TREE Paul sprang to his feet with such suddenness that he nearly upset the boat, and the girls shrieked in even greater fright. "Sit down! Oh, sit down!" Alice begged him. "Russ! Russ!" cried Ruth. "It's an alligator!" "It can't be!" declared the young moving picture operator. He had stopped working his camera, and was urging the two men from the steamer, who were rowing his boat, to make better progress. "Deed an' dere am 'gators in dish yeah ribber!" declared one of the colored men. "Don't let the girls hear you say that!" cautioned Russ. Paul had obeyed the request of the girls to sit down, but he crawled toward the bow of the boat, which was now moving through the water, up stream, at a fair rate of speed. "What is it? Oh, what is it?" implored Alice. "Can you see anything?" Ruth wanted to know. "Some sort of animal has got hold of our anchor, or the rope," declared Paul, "and it's towing us. I don't think it can be an alligator, though." "Oh, what will become of us?" gasped Ruth. "Don't be in the least alarmed!" exclaimed Paul. "All I'll have to do will be to cut the rope, and we'll be free. But I don't want to lose the anchor." "Don't cut loose! Don't!" cried Russ, whose boat was now up to that containing the two girls and the young actor. "I want to get a film of that. You're not in any real danger; are you?" "Oh, yes indeed we are!" said Ruth. "Nonsense! We aren't at all!" protested her sister. "Only I'd like to see what sort of a fish is towing us." "It isn't a fish at all!" Paul suddenly exclaimed. "It's a manatee--a sea cow!" "Oh, a sea cow! I want to look at it!" Alice cried. "You must keep quiet in the boat!" insisted Ruth, who seemed greatly afraid. "Silly! I won't upset you," was the answer. "But I want to get a glimpse of that creature. There is no danger; is there, Paul?" "Sea cows are considered gentle, and seldom attack," he replied. "You can see it quite plainly now. It is swimming near the top of the water." Alice made her way forward, and even Ruth was induced to come and look at the strange creature, while Russ, from his boat, took views of the occurrence. "The anchor seems to be caught under one of its flippers," said Paul. "That's why it's towing us. Probably the manatee wants to get rid of us as much as you girls want to get rid of it." "I hope it doesn't get away for a few minutes!" called out Russ. "This will make a dandy film!" Much reassured now by the gentle movements of the manatee, Ruth lost nearly all of her fear. Alice really had felt very little. "I thought it surely was an alligator," the latter said, as the boat continued to be towed by the manatee. "Nebber knowed one ob dem t'ings t' come so far up de ribber," declared one of the colored men. "He's a big one, too!" he added, as his eyes bulged. "How large is it, Russ?" asked Paul. "You can see better than we can."