CHAPTER XV.

CAUGHT BY AN ALLIGATOR.

"Easy! Easy!" cried Vasco Bilette. "Do you want them to hear you across the river?"

Under his caution the men subsided.

"We must follow them and watch our chance," spoke Noddy. "We'll demand a heavy ransom."

"_Si! Si!_" agreed the Mexicans.

"That's how we get square, Jack," whispered Noddy to his chum.

"You bet, Noddy; and get money, too!" said Pender.

"We'll all have to have a share," put in Dalsett. "I'm not here for my health."

"Me either," remarked Bill Berry. "I need cash as much as any one."

"We'll share the ransom money," said Vasco. "Now turn in, every one of you."

Soon the camp became quiet, the only sounds heard being the movements of animals in the forest, or, now and then, the splash of a fish in the river.

The sun was scarcely above the horizon the next morning ere Vasco Bilette was astir. He took a position where he could watch the other camp, and saw the professor and the boys get their breakfast and start off.

"We'll give them about an hour's start," said Vasco to Noddy. "Then the men on horses will follow and you can come, about a mile behind, in the auto. At the first opportunity we'll capture this Bob Baker."

Meanwhile, Jerry and his companions were going along at a moderate pace. The weather was fine though hot, and the road fairly good. For perhaps twenty miles they puffed along, and then they came to another river.

"I hope this isn't any deeper than the other," said Jerry.

"I'll swim across," volunteered Ned.

His offer was accepted, and, stripping off his outer garments, he plunged into the water. Luckily, he found the stream was about as shallow as the first one the auto had forded. He reached the opposite bank and called over.

"Come on! Fetch my clothes with you; I'm not going to swim back."

Jerry started the machine down into the water. It went along all right until about half way across. Then there came a sudden swirl beneath the surface, a jar to the machine, and then the auto came to a stop.

"What's the matter?" cried Jerry. "Have we struck a snag?"

"Looks more like a snag had struck us," replied Bob, leaning over the rear seat and looking down into the water. "Something has hold of one of the back wheels."

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Jerry. "Do you suppose a fish would try to swallow an automobile, as the whale did Jonah?"

"Well, you can see for yourself," maintained Bob. "There's some kind of a fish, or beast, or bird, down under the water, making quite a fuss. It's so muddy I can't make out what it is."

Jerry climbed over into the tonneau. Sure enough, there was some disturbance going on. Every now and then the water would swirl and eddy, and the automobile would tremble as if trying to move against some powerful force. Jerry had thrown out the gears as soon as he felt an obstruction.

Professor Snodgrass was closely observing the water.

"What do you think it is?" asked Jerry.

"It might be that it is an eddy of the water about a sink-hole, or it may be, as Bob suggests, a big fish," replied the naturalist. "I never knew there were fish in these waters big enough to stop an auto, though."

"It may be a whole school of fishes," said Bob.

Just then there came a more violent agitation of the water, and the auto began to move backward slightly.

"Whatever it is, it seems bound to get us," Jerry remarked. "Wait until I see if I can't beat the fish or whatever it is."

He turned on more power and threw in the first speed gear. The auto shivered and trembled, and then moved ahead slightly. But the big fish, or whatever it was, with powerful strokes of its tail began a backward pull that neutralized the action of the automobile.

"I see what it is!" cried the professor.

"What?" asked Jerry.

"A big alligator! It has one wheel in its mouth and is trying to drag us back. Hand me a rifle!"

Jerry passed over a gun. The professor, who was a good shot, leaned down over the back of the tonneau. He could just make out the ugly head of the 'gator beneath the surface. In quick succession he sent three bullets from the magazine rifle into its brain.

There was a last dying struggle of the beast, the waters swirled in a whirlpool under the lashing of the powerful tail, and then the little waves became red with blood and the alligator ceased struggling.

Once more Jerry threw the gear into place, and this time the machine went forward and reached the opposite bank.

"I thought you were never coming," observed Ned, who was shivering in his wet undergarments. "What did you stop for? To catch fish?"

"We stopped because we had to," replied Jerry, and he told Ned about the alligator.

"I thought you were shooting bullfrogs," observed the swimmer as he got out some dry clothing. "Say, if we told the folks at home that a Mexican alligator tried to chew up an automobile, I wonder what they'd say?"

"The beast must have been very hungry, or else have taken us for an enemy," remarked the professor. "I wish I could have saved him for a specimen. But I suppose it would have been a bother to carry around."

"I think it would," agreed Jerry. "But now we are safe, I must see if Mr. Alligator damaged the machine any."

He looked at the wheels where the saurian had taken hold, but beyond the marks of the teeth of the beast on the spokes and rim, no harm had been done.

"Are we ready to go on now?" asked the professor, when Ned had finished dressing.

"I'd like to take a dip in the river," said Bob. "It's hot and dusty on the road, and we may not get another chance."

"I think I'll go in, too," observed Jerry. "We are in no hurry. Will you come along, professor?"

"No; I'll watch you," said the naturalist. He sat down on the bank while Jerry and Chunky prepared for a dip.

They splashed around in the water near shore and had a good bath. Bob was swimming a little farther out than was Jerry.

"Better stay near shore," cautioned the professor. "No telling when some alligators may be along."

At that instant Bob gave a cry. He struggled in the water and gave a spring into the air.

"Something has stung me!" he cried.

Then he sank back, limp and unconscious, beneath the waves.

"Hurry!" cried the professor. "Get him out, Jerry, or he'll be drowned!"

But Jerry had hurried to the rescue even before the professor called. Reaching down under the water he picked up his companion's body, and, placing it over his shoulder, waded to shore with it. Bob was as limp as a rag.

"Is he killed?" asked Ned.

"I hope not," replied the professor. "Still, he had a narrow escape."

"Did something bite him?" asked Jerry.

The professor pointed to a small red mark on Bob's leg.

"He received an electric shock," said the naturalist.

"An electric shock?" echoed Ned.

"Yes; from the electric battery fish, or stinging ray, as they are sometimes called. They can give a severe shock, causing death under some circumstances, it is said. But I guess it was a young one that stung Bob. They are a fish," the professor went on to explain, "fitted by nature with a perfect electric battery. I wish I had caught one for a specimen."

"I didn't think of it at the time this one stung me or I would have caught it for you," said Bob, suddenly opening his eyes.

"Oh, you're better, are you?" asked Jerry.

"I'm all right," replied Bob. "It was quite a jar at first."

"I agree with you," put in the professor. "However, you got over it better than I expected you would. I think we had better get out of the neighborhood of this river. It seems unlucky."

In a little while Bob was sufficiently recovered to dress. Then, having delayed only to fill the water tank of the auto from the stream, the travelers resumed their journey.

They chugged along until nightfall, and having reached no settlement, they camped in the open, and made an early start the next day. It was about noon when, having made a sudden turn of the road, they came to a place where there was a parting of the ways.

"I wonder which we shall take?" asked Ned.

"Look! Look!" cried Bob, suddenly, pointing to something ahead.