"You will do no such thing," Mr Harvey remarked; "the chances are that there are half a dozen alligators in that pool--it is just the sort of place in which they lurk, for they find no difficulty in occasionally taking a deer or a wild hog, as he comes down to quench his thirst. There! don't you see something projecting above the water on the other side of the pool?" "I see a bit of rough wood, that looks as if it were the top of a log underneath the water." "Well, just watch it," Mr Harvey said, as he took aim with his rifle. He fired; the water instantly heaved and whirled at the spot the boy was watching; the supposed log rose higher out of the water, and then plunged down again; five or six feet of a long tail lashed the water and then disappeared, but the eddies on the surface showed that there was a violent agitation going on underneath it. "What do you think of your log now?" Mr Harvey asked, smiling. "Why, it was an alligator," Tom said. "Who would have thought it?--it looked just like a bit of an old tree." "What you saw," Mr Harvey said, "was a portion of the head; the alligator often lies with just his eyes and nostrils out of water." "Did you kill it, sir, do you think?" Dick asked. "Oh! no," Mr Harvey replied; "the ball would glance off his head, as it would from the side of an ironclad ship. It woke him up, and flustrated him a bit; but he is none the worse for it. So you see, Tom, that pool is hardly fit to bathe in." "No, indeed, sir," Tom answered, turning a little pale at the thought of the danger which he had proposed to incur. "I would rather fight half a dozen lions than get into the water with those brutes." "I don't know about half a dozen lions," Mr Harvey said; "although certainly one lion is an easier foe to tackle than an alligator. But one can never be too careful about bathing in this country. In the smallest pools, only a few yards long and a few feet wide, an alligator may be lurking, especially if the weather is dry and the pools far apart. Even when only drawing water at such places it is well to be careful, and it is always the best plan to poke the bottom for a short distance round with a pole before dipping in a bucket. Remember, if you should ever happen to be seized by one of these animals, there is but one chance, and that is to turn at once and stick your thumbs into his eyes. It requires nerve when a brute has got you by the leg, but it is your only chance, and the natives, when seized by alligators, often escape by blinding their foes. The pain and sudden loss of sight always induces them to loose their hold." "I hope I shall never have to try," Tom said, shivering. "It is safer not, certainly," Mr Harvey agreed; "but there, I see dinner is ready, and Jumbo has got a bucket of water, so you can douse your heads and wash your hands without fear of alligators."