"Some fine skins here," commented Jed, with a professional air. "When we
come back, boys, we'll have a lively time."
"Isn't it dangerous?" asked Ruth, with a shudder.
"Alligators ain't half so dangerous as folks think," said Jed. "I've
hunted 'em, boy and man, for years, and I never got much hurt. One I
wounded once nipped me on the leg, and I've got the scar yet."
"I thought it was the tail that was the dangerous part of an alligator,"
said Russ, who now had all the pictures he wanted for the present,
though he intended coming back with the larger camera and filming the
alligator hunt.
"Well, I've read lots of stories to the effect that an alligator or
crocodile could swing his tail around and knock a man or dog into his
mouth with one sweep, but I don't believe it," the hunter said. "Of
course that big tail could do damage if it was properly used, and you
didn't get out of the way in time. In India I reckon the crocodiles are
dangerous, if what you read is true; but I don't reckon a Florida
alligator nor crocodile ever ate a man."
"I thought there were no crocodiles in this country," said Russ, who,
with a skillful movement of the oars, avoided hitting a big alligator.
"That's a mistake," said Jed. "There are both alligators and crocodiles
in Florida, and some of the crocodiles grow to be nearly fifteen feet
long.
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