Chapter III: Part 3

The girls looked at the thing in open eyed amazement. They couldn’t realize that that queer looking mess that looked all the world like spoiled gelatine, could have been a creature sailing on the water.

“You just wait,” laughed the driver; “I’ll show you some out in the water before we turn off this beach.” He kept his word, too. About a half mile farther down the beach he spied a live jelly fish riding the waves. When the girls saw _that_ they thought first he must be joking them for it looked quite a bit like a sail boat some child had made and which had tipped over and blown out to sea. But when he stopped the car they could see plainly that it was just such a creature as he had shown them before.

“They certainly do have queer folks down at this place,” said Mary Jane, “queerer folks than live up at my home, I’m sure of that!”

Soon they turned off of the beach and went back across a bridge to a great orange orchard Aunt Sue wanted Ellen to see. The owner of the orchard was expecting them and he himself took them out to where oranges were being picked and then to the packing room where the golden fruit was scrubbed and sorted and packed. Mary Jane like the sorting the best of all.

“It’s just like a marble game,” she exclaimed excitedly as she watched the fruit come rolling down the trough. “See! That little one goes in there and the middle sized one goes in _there_ and the great big orange goes way down to the end. Let’s stay and watch some more.”

“Not this time,” replied Mrs. Merrill regretfully; “if we are to have a picnic we must be on our way because it’s nearly noon now.”

The orchard man loaded the girls with oranges and tangerines for their lunch and urged them to come again some time. They sped along the hard shell road, passed inlet after inlet where the water from the ocean, rising now with the turn of the tide, came close up to the road; and finally they turned in at a clean, pretty woods and the car came to a standstill.

“This _is_ a nice place,” said Mrs. Merrill to Mrs. Berry, “and we’re certainly glad you brought us along to your party. Girls, I’ll race you to that oak tree!”

The girls, each one, had intended to suggest eating lunch the very first minute they got out of the car; but they couldn’t let a challenge like that go by. Off they raced, Alice leading easily as they neared the great tree which was the goal.

“Let’s give her a handicap,” Mrs. Merrill said, as they measured up how very much Alice had beaten; “she’s so old she needs one.” So they made Alice stand five feet behind as they raced back and then the race came out exactly a tie.

“I say the winners get a luncheon for a prize,” suggested Mrs. Merrill, laughingly; “I think that’s safe when we all won, don’t you?”

While they had been racing, Mrs. Berry and her friend had spread the white table cloth and had unpacked most of the tempting food, so each girl dropped down by the nearest napkin and prepared to be served. No wonder the ladies had wanted to keep that lunch basket for a surprise--it was a meal fit for a king and each hungry eater was loud in the praises of kind Mrs. Trudy who had given them such a feast. There was fried chicken, each piece frilled with white paper and rolled up by itself; and sandwiches and rolls and jelly and olives and pickles and salad and cake and, oh, just everything good a person could think of. And last of all the real surprise--a can of fine ice cream which not one had guessed was tucked in under the back seat; no one, that is, but the driver, whom Mrs. Trudy had let into the secret.

After lunch was over the girls gathered moss and shells and acorns; they played games and had such a good time that no one even thought of home or the sky or weather or anything like that till suddenly Mrs. Merrill noticed that the sun wasn’t shining.

“We should have brought wraps after all!” exclaimed Mrs. Berry in dismay, “but who’d have guessed that this fine day would end in a rain. Come quick, girlies, we’ll have to bustle our things into the car in a jiffy and make for home. I know these southern storms and this starts out like a bad one.”

Even as she spoke the sky grew suddenly blacker and a great flash of lightning lit up the woods with a weird light.

“I never saw anything so sudden!” cried Mrs. Merrill; “look! There’s a drop of rain now! Hadn’t we better put up the curtains on the car before we start? It would be a bad thing for us to get wet so far from home.”

The three ladies helped and the girls held curtains from the inside so the job didn’t take very long. But even that little time made a great difference. The great drops of water came faster and faster and the driver got soaked when he jumped out to lock the gate that led from woods to road.

“There’s no one on the road, driver,” said Aunt Sue, as they started north, “so let her out. The roads are good and we can get home through the woods if you drive fast so as to make it before the roads get too soaked.”

On they dashed; past bridges, woods, gullies and inlets. They were taking the inside road as that would get them home quicker than the beach road they had used coming down. The girls thought it was a lark to sit cuddled up safe and dry in the car while the lightning flashed and the rain beat upon the leather roof over their heads.

On they went, past more woods and orchards and creeks, all the time having near them on one side or the other the wide stretches of water that now, at high tide, came up so close to the road. The shell road made fine driving but no one, not even the driver who was used to that country, realized how very slick the road might be in such a storm. On, and on, through the lightning that lit up the dark shadows of the groves they raced past.

And then a sudden whirl--a slip--a splash! The car had skidded from the road into the bay and stood hub deep in a vast inlet of water.

WALKING THE PLANK

For a minute all seven folks in that car were too amazed to speak; then, suddenly every one began to talk at once.

“Will we sail out to sea?” asked Mary Jane.

“Driver, do you know when the tide is high?” from Mrs. Merrill.

“Of course, there’ll be no one along this road while the storm lasts!” cried Mrs. Berry.

“Will we just sit here and drown?” exclaimed Ellen.

“I guess I’ll swim ashore!” laughed Alice, who thought the experience a lark it was so unusual.

And as they talked the lightning flashed and sparkled; the thunder roared deafeningly and the rain on the car and on the water around them made so much noise they had to yell to make each other hear.

Suddenly Mrs. Merrill happened to think of time. She glanced at her watch and exclaimed, “It’s four o’clock! If I recall rightly from yesterday on the beach that’s nearly high tide. If that’s the case the water won’t get any higher.”

“What’s tide?” asked Mary Jane.

“It’s the rising and falling of the water, dear,” said Mrs. Merrill. “Twice a day the water spreads out a few feet over the land and twice a day it goes back. Some other time I’ll tell you more about it. If the water doesn’t come up much deeper here we’ll not be in any real danger and I think we’d better sit still till the storm goes over. Surely such a hard storm will not last long.”

So they tried to settle themselves comfortably for a long wait. But it wasn’t easy. The roar of the thunder and the water and the weird light from the storm’s bright flashes made them all uneasy. They played twenty questions and they counted the seconds on Mrs. Merrill’s watch between the lightning and the thunder. But nothing seemed very interesting.

“I’ll tell you what let’s do,” suggested Mrs. Berry, “let’s talk about where we are going and what we plan to see before we go back up north. That will be fun.”

And it was. Mrs. Merrill said she and the girls planned to go back to Jacksonville in a day or two where they hoped to meet Mr. Merrill.

“You don’t mean to tell me,” exclaimed Mrs. Berry, “that these girls are going home without a ride up the Ocklawaha? That seems a shame!”

“The Ocklawaha?” questioned Mrs. Merrill; “I don’t believe I know that trip.”

“Then you surely must take it,” said Mrs. Berry; “the girls will love riding on that great, queer boat through the wild forests where they can see alligators and snakes and turtles and orange groves and Indian battle fields and everything, right close at hand. When we get home I’ll show you the folders.”

“Do they have really truly alligators growing outside a fence?” asked Mary Jane, her eyes big with wonder.

“Do they?” answered Mrs. Berry vigorously; “you just wait and see! Alligators along the banks and in the water and right near the boat.”

“Ugh!” exclaimed Mary Jane, as a sudden thought struck her; “are there any here?”

“I hope not,” said Mrs. Berry with a shiver; “no, girls, I was just joking,” she added as she saw the three girls glance fearfully at the water; “alligators like jungles and heavy vegetation. They would never come up so near a road--you may be sure of that.”

“Listen!” exclaimed Alice suddenly; “wasn’t that thunder farther away?”

The driver loosened the front curtain and peered out. Yes, the storm was going away, that was plain to see. The thunder was getting fainter every minute, the lightning was only a glow and the rain had nearly stopped.

“I do believe it’s going away as quickly as it came,” said Aunt Sue hopefully. “What time is it now anyway?”

“Five o’clock,” replied Mrs. Merrill; “how’s the tide, driver?”

“Going down,” he answered; “see? It’s below the running board a-ready. I guess I’ll see if I can start her up.” He pressed the button on his starter and the wheels of the auto began to spin but the car didn’t move an inch. “Just as I was afraid!” he muttered; “stuck in the mud. I’ll wade to shore and walk down the road till I come to a house where I can get help to pull us out. I reckon you’ll all be safe enough.” He pulled off his shoes and socks, waded to shore and set off up the road. By this time the rain had stopped and the sun was breaking through the clouds, so sitting in a car out in the water seemed much less dismal.

He hadn’t been gone more than fifteen minutes before an auto pulled up in front of the stranded car and out jumped the driver and two men. “I met ’em up the road,” their driver explained, “and we’ve brought a plank and a rope.”

“Yes, we’ll soon have you all out and a-riding home,” said one of the men.

First they laid the great long plank from the road to the running board of the car. Then Mrs. Merrill, who had been loosening the curtains, stepped out to walk to shore.

“Better let the little lady go first to see if it’s all right,” suggested the driver. “Here, Alice, your mother can hold you to start and I’ll meet you to finish.”

So Alice climbed out and holding tightly to her mother’s out-stretched hand, started the scary looking walk to shore. The plank did tip and sway, but the men stood on the shore end so it would not slip and she made the journey safely.

“That wasn’t hard a bit!” exclaimed Alice; “I’d like to do it again!”

“One at a time, please, one at a time,” laughed the driver. “You’ll be playing pirate first thing you know--I remember I used to read about walking the plank in pirate books, though goodness knows it wasn’t anything like this! Who’s coming next?”

Mrs. Merrill lifted Mary Jane out and set her on the plank; then she walked close behind and held onto the little girl’s shoulders as they slowly crept to shore. Mrs. Berry came next with Ellen held in front of her the same way and last of all Aunt Sue. Then the men waded out, tied the heavy rope onto the car, fastened it onto their own machine and with a great tugging and pulling and jerking the car was pulled loose from the river bed and dragged up onto the road.

“There you are!” exclaimed one of the men, “all ready to drive. Now, young man,” he said to the driver, “suppose you see if your engine’s damaged and then we’ll be going.” While the driver inspected his engine Mrs. Merrill paid the two men for their trouble so that when the engine was found to be unharmed they started home at once. The water had drained off the hard shell roads very quickly and the drive home was not half so unpleasant as might have been expected.

In a very short time they came to a stop in front of their own hotel. “Well, I surely am glad to be back!” exclaimed Mrs. Merrill.

“And we surely are glad to have you here safe and sound!” cried good Mrs. Trudy coming out to greet them. “We’ve all been anxious about you. Did the storm hit your way?”

“Did it?” answered Mrs. Merrill; “ask the girls!”

The three girls began talking at once and it was a wonder Mrs. Trudy could hear a thing.

“I just knew something had happened when you were so late,” she said when the girls stopped for breath. “And you must be starved--did you know it’s after seven? I saved some hot dinner for you so run right in and eat it.”

Other guests had long finished eating but they followed the little party into the dining room and listened to the story of the exciting experience. But after dinner was eaten and the story had been told and re-told till every one had heard it many a time, the girls found they were tired and nobody, for a wonder, objected when Mrs. Merrill suggested going to their rooms.

“Oh dear,” said Mrs. Trudy, suddenly, “where did he put that box? Tom had something for you, Mary Jane, and he was so particular you should have it first thing when you came home but for the life of me I don’t know where it is!” She hunted around diligently for a minute or two and then said, “Well, he must have taken it off with him. You’d better get to bed, little lady, so you can get up early in the morning and see what it is.”

“Can’t you tell?” coaxed Mary Jane.

“Tell!” exclaimed Mrs. Trudy. “I should say I couldn’t! Tom will tell you himself because it’s his. He comes early you know, so you may come down the first minute you are dressed and I’ll wager he’ll be looking for you.”

“Won’t you even _hint_?” asked Mary Jane as she started up the stairs.

“Well,” laughed Mrs. Trudy, “I might tell you that it’s alive and it’s red or brown or green or yellow--I don’t know which just at this minute--if that’s any help to you.”

“I guess I might as well go to bed,” said Mary Jane after she had thought hard for a minute, “’cause that doesn’t help a bit. I guess I’ll just have to go to bed and get up in the morning, I guess I will.”

CATCHING THE BOAT

When Mary Jane went down stairs the next morning she spied a queer looking box with holes cut in the sides lying on the big table in the office.

“Now I wonder if that’s it?” she thought. “And I wonder if I can look at it now.”

Fortunately, she didn’t have to wonder long. Tom was sitting in a corner reading the paper while waiting for her and as soon as he heard her whisper he bobbed up and said good morning.

“Look what I’ve got for you!” he exclaimed as he gave her the box. “No,” he added as he saw she hesitated about taking the cover off, “you don’t need to be afraid. I think he’s too sleepy to run away. Look and see what it is.”

Mary Jane carefully lifted off the cover and there inside, nestled down on the grass, was a tiny little creature, about three inches long, with bead-like black eyes and a tail fully as long as his body.

“What is it?” cried Mary Jane; “it looks like a baby alligator only they’re brown.”

“Yes, it does look something like that,” agreed Tom, “but it isn’t an alligator. It’s a chameleon.”

“A chameleon?” repeated Mary Jane; “what’s a chameleon?”

Alice came running down the stairs just in time to hear what Mary Jane said. “I know,” she cried eagerly, “it’s a creature that changes its color.”

“But this doesn’t change any color,” said Mary Jane skeptically; “this’n green.”

“Yes,” said Tom, “because it’s on green grass. You just wait and I’ll show you.” He picked up the little creature by its tail and, holding it gently, laid it on the brown table cover. To the girls’ amazement the brilliant green color faded and like magic the creature before them was all of brown.

“Oh!” exclaimed Mary Jane, in an awe-struck voice; “what makes it do it?”

“They say,” replied Tom, “that it’s got a set of air cells that catch the color of whatever the creature’s on. But I don’t believe they really for sure certain know what _does_ do it.”

“But that’s not yellow!” said Mary Jane, remembering that Mrs. Trudy had said three colors.

“Of course not,” laughed Tom, “because the table cover’s brown. Here, you put it on Alice’s yellow dress and see what happens.”

Very gingerly, Mary Jane picked up the little creature and laid it in Alice’s lap. And sure enough! Like magic again the chameleon changed its color--this time a golden yellow that was streaked a bit with brown at the sides--made it look utterly unlike the green animal Mary Jane had first seen in the box.

“I think that’s the wonderfulest thing I ever saw,” she exclaimed. “I’m just going to change it around all day and see what it does.”

Fortunately Mrs. Merrill had made no special plans for that day. She thought that if they were to take the boat trip so recommended to them, the girls had better have a day of rest and quiet play before they set off. So Mary Jane had plenty of time to play with her chameleon to her heart’s content. Later in the morning, Tom found one for Alice too and they made a nest for them out in the fern box on the big front porch.

There were things to do besides play with the chameleons too. The yard was full of squirrels which would eat out of the girls’ hands. And back of the house a beautifully shaded canal proved to be the home of many sorts and sizes of turtles. So interesting did the girls find their play that they didn’t care to leave it even for a walk up town when Mrs. Merrill decided that she would go up and get the boat tickets for to-morrow.

The first thing Mary Jane heard the next morning was her mother’s voice saying, “Alice! Mary Jane! Do wake up quickly! We’ve over slept and the train goes in an hour and a half. Lucky I packed up the trunk and all your shells last night for we’ll have to fly now.”

The girls tumbled out of bed in a jiffy. They had talked with folks in the hotel the evening before about the Ocklawaha River trip and they were eager to take it. So it needed no urging to get them tubbed and dressed and down to the dining room in short order.

“You’ve plenty of time,” said Mrs. Trudy reassuringly; “your trunk will go right now--I’ll tend to that and Tom is ready to drive you to the station, so take your time at breakfast. The train doesn’t go till nine, you know.”

Later Mrs. Merrill had looked over her mail and the girls had said good-by to all their new friends and were just getting into the station bus when the telephone rang. “Train’s an hour late,” said Mrs. Trudy as she hung up the receiver, “aren’t you glad you did not rush more?”

“But will that give us plenty of time to make the boat?” asked Mrs. Merrill; “let’s see--two hours for the trip and the boat goes at twelve forty-five. Yes, that ought to be plenty of time. Girls, you may run out and take a last look at your chameleons if you like.” That was welcome permission. Of course they had wanted to take the chameleons home with them but Mrs. Merrill thought it wasn’t possible as they were stopping so many places en route. But it was fun to hunt them up and play a few minutes with their changing colors.

As the minutes went by Mrs. Merrill became uneasy and a second telephone message bringing news that the train was an hour and a half late confirmed her suspicion that they might have trouble making connections.

“I think I’ll phone the agency where I got the tickets,” she said finally. “Perhaps they will wire and have the boat held for us.” The ticket lady was most reassuring and was certain that the boat would wait so Mrs. Merrill felt comforted. But it was eleven o’clock when the train finally came and it lost more time all the way up.

“Girls,” said Mrs. Merrill, as they neared their station at half past one, “get your bags and camera ready for a dash. If I see a car anywhere around the station I’ll take it in a jiffy and we’ll drive as fast as possible for that boat. I have an uneasy feeling that they won’t wait this long for us and I don’t want to lose a minute’s time.”

They stepped off the train the instant it stopped and Mrs. Merrill ran toward a small car that, with chugging engine and waiting driver, stood near by.

“Will you take us to the boat?” she cried eagerly.

“Sure, lady,” said the driver cheerfully; “pile right in.”

Grabbing the luggage the girls carried, a small bag and Alice’s camera, Mrs. Merrill tossed it with her own bag into the back, pushed the girls in and, jumping in herself, slammed the door behind her. And that same instant a man who evidently had been up at the front of the train jumped in the front seat by the driver, and with a lurch the car dashed away.

“The boat, you know,” said Mrs. Merrill as soon as she got her breath; “we want the Ocklawaha boat.”

“Sure, lady,” said the man, “we’ll make it.” He waved a yellow telegram before her, but with the jolting of the car and the rush of the wind, Mrs. Merrill couldn’t tell what it said nor could she hear the rest of his words.

“Well, no use getting excited,” she said, sitting back where she could brace herself better. “Evidently they wired to meet us here and that certainly was thoughtful. Hang on to the seat there, Mary Jane, or you’ll bounce out, child,” she added quickly as an extra big lurch of the car threatened to toss Mary Jane out over the side.

On they dashed through the noon sunshine: past houses and streets and out into the open country. And no sign of a boat landing anywhere.

“Something’s wrong, I know,” said Mrs. Merrill with concern. “I know we’ve been at least four miles and the boat landing was only two miles from the station. They’ve got to stop and tell me where they are going.” She braced herself firmly and then reached front and shouted to the driver.

“Stop! Stop right here! I told you I want to go to the boat landing and you’re not taking us in that direction.”

The driver slowed up a bit so they could talk better but he didn’t stop. The man with him swung around in his seat and began to explain.

“The boat isn’t at the landing, lady,” he said much to Mrs. Merrill’s dismay; “she left an hour back.”

“Then where are you taking us?” demanded Mrs. Merrill.

“To the boat,” he said. “You see it’s this way, lady. The first part of that trip is on the St. John’s River and right here” (he swung his arm off to the left) “the river makes a bend. We had to let the boat go on time because folks don’t like to wait, but we’ll take you across the bend straight, you see, and catch the boat at the first stop. We can do in half an hour in this car what it takes her about an hour and a half to do on the water. Never you fear, now, you’ll catch the boat right enough, lady.”

“Then we might as well enjoy the ride,” said Mrs. Merrill to the girls as, fairly satisfied with his explanation, she settled back in her place.

“If you call this enjoying,” laughed Alice, as she tossed from front to back as they sped over the rough road.

“Here,” said Mrs. Merrill, “let me sit in the middle and hold each of you.” Alice moved over and Mrs. Merrill sat in the middle of the seat with an arm around each girl. “Now we have the fun of knowing that if any one bounces out we all will!”

None too soon did they brace themselves either, for at that minute the driver turned off from the road into a woods. If the road had been rough, there’s no describing the roughness of the rude path they followed through the woods. Hardly more than a trail it was and over it they bumped and tossed and hurried down a hill, through the trees and out onto a rude dock on the bank of a great river.

“Boat come yet?” asked the driver of a lone fisherman.

“Yeh,” he replied, “she come an’ gone fifteen minutes er-go!”

Mrs. Merrill exclaimed with dismay but the driver didn’t stop for consultation. With a whirl of his wheel that sent the car spinning he turned around and dashed back up the hill.

“Girls,” said Mrs. Merrill solemnly, “I think he’s crazy. But all I can see for us to do is to sit still and hang together. Maybe sometime we’ll get somewhere--let’s hope. Here, Mary Jane, snug up close so you won’t bounce out!”

And turning onto the road, the car dashed off toward the south.

ON THE OCKLAWAHA

It seemed to Mary Jane that she surely must be in a funny dream. It couldn’t be possible that folks, really live, wide-awake folks, would go racing over the country in a strange car as they were racing; and she glanced up at her mother questioningly to see if she too was thinking it queer. But Mrs. Merrill, her arms around her two daughters, was looking straight ahead in a puzzled way and Mary Jane couldn’t guess what she was thinking about.

The little car raced on. Through sandy roads that would have stalled a heavier machine; across bridges; through woods dim with the shelter of moss laden trees; by small fields where they caught glimpses of tiny truck gardens--they dashed.

“Government camphor reservation!” shouted the driver over his shoulder as they drove between rows and rows of low, close-cropped trees set in neat orderly fashion and the Merrills got a whiff of the smell of camphor as they rushed by the rough factory where the camphor leaves are crushed to make the drug so many folks use.

“Now we’ll _have_ to stop!” said Mrs. Merrill with a sigh of relief as they swung around a short curve and came upon a toll bridge at the end of which stood an old man, hand out-stretched for his fee. But she didn’t know the driver! He didn’t intend to stop for mere toll--not he!

“Pay you on the way back,” shouted the driver and on they rode.

After what seemed, oh at least a day! but which really was only an hour, the car slowed up in a tiny village and rolled down a hill to a fishing dock by the St. Johns river.

“There we are!” said the driver as he brought the car to a full stop and, jumping out, opened the door with a flourish. “In plenty of time too, I’ll say!” He helped Mrs. Merrill and the girls out, then rubbing his hands in satisfaction added, “I guess that’ll please him--no, lady,” as he saw Mrs. Merrill reaching for her purse; “you don’t owe me a cent--not a cent! Glad to do it for him!”

“For who?” asked Mrs. Merrill, puzzled but greatly relieved because she had begun to be anxious about the hole this ride might leave in her pocket book!

“For Mr. Merrill,” replied the driver, “aren’t you Mrs. C. F. Merrill?”

“Yes,” said Mrs. Merrill, still puzzled.

“Just so,” replied the driver; “well, you see, last time he was down here I was a-working in Jacksonville and he did me a good turn. Now I’m a workin’ with the boat folks and when we see by the agent’s telegram that it’s you that’s late, seys I to them, ‘Now’s when I do _them_ a good turn’--see? So here you are and the boat’ll be comin’ along in a minute.”

“I hope it does,” said Alice.

“And I hope it’s got a pantry on it cause I’m about starved,” said Mary Jane fervently.

“Sure faith!” exclaimed the man; “of course you are and it’s most four o’clock! Well, let’s see what we can do for you!” He turned to go up the hill in the hope that he might find some fruit in an orchard near at hand, but he hadn’t gone a dozen steps before a long, low whistle in the distance sent him hurrying back.

“There she comes!” he shouted, “I hear her! Look!”

Mrs. Merrill and the girls looked up the river and sure enough, swinging around the bend of the river was the boat they were waiting for. The driver and his companion hurried down to the dock and put up a great red flag they found in the dock house, then fearing that that might not be enough, they brought the dust robe from the car and waved it too. In a couple of minutes a reassuring “toot-toot!” from the boat gave back the answer they were waiting for and they knew the captain had seen their signal and would stop at the dock.

There was just time to thank the men for the ride, which, now that it was safely over, the Merrills realized had been a very interesting one, and to get bags and camera from the car before the boat sidled up to the dock.

“Can’t stop to tie up!” shouted the Captain, as the boat brushed the weather worn dock; “jump aboard!” There was just barely time for the Merrills to jump from the dock to the broad open lower deck; then a bell rang, the engines again began working and the space between boat and dock widened--they were off. Mary Jane and Alice waved good-by to the men on the dock and Mrs. Merrill turned to greet the waiting captain.

“I am afraid you have had a hurried ride,” he said, politely, “but the gentleman yonder,” he waved his hand toward the dock, “who is now our advertising man, was sure he could meet us at the other dock and he wanted you to take the trip. It seems he feels indebted to your husband.”

“We certainly are indebted to him,” said Mrs. Merrill, “for the nice ride--though it did seem a bit hurried at the time” (she smiled at the girls as they all thought of the wild jolting!)--“and for getting us to the boat in time. We go back north soon and we would have been sorry to miss the trip. But I wonder if my little girls could have some lunch--they haven’t had a bite since breakfast.”

For answer the captain rang a bell for the steward and the order he gave made the girls hungrier than ever. “Ham,” he said, “browned to a turn, all the fresh eggs they can eat and some of your good biscuits. Can you have that in twenty minutes?”

“Yis sir, yis sir, bery good, sir!” said the darky steward, smiling broadly at the hungry folks, “and if you like, sir, they’s jest a few more strawberries than I’ll be a needin’ fo’ suppa to-night. If the little ladies would like to eat them a-while they’re a-waitin’?”

Would they? Mary Jane’s face shone and Alice smiled so sweetly that the steward nearly tumbled over his feet in his eagerness to get them comfortably settled at once. Upon the broad second deck a table was set--“we won’t ask you to sit in doors this time of day,” said the captain, “because you’ll want to see the scenery as we just now turn from the St. Johns into the Ocklawaha.” And on the table were three big dishes of great, red, luscious strawberries.

“Yumy yum!” exclaimed Alice; “Mother, do you know what Dadah did to get us all this?”

“I haven’t an idea,” replied Mrs. Merrill; “he’s always doing things for folks, I know, but I never heard him speak of anything special down this way. Whatever he did though, I’m glad he did it--it certainly is lucky for us that these folks have good memories.”

Mary Jane and Alice felt like queens as they sat there eating their berries and real cream and smelling the odors of broiling ham that came invitingly up the companionway.

“I’m glad we hurried up and got the boat!” exclaimed Mary Jane appreciatively as she scraped up the last bit of cream and the last half berry she had saved for a final tit-bit, “and I’m _very_ glad we’re on a boat that has a pantry, _I_ am!”

“Wouldn’t you like to look over the boat and find your rooms?” asked the captain some half an hour later; “in a few minutes we’ll be turning into the narrow Ocklawaha and then all my attention will be taken up with the steering. I like to have all my passengers comfortably settled so they will feel at home aboard.”

Mrs. Merrill, Alice and Mary Jane followed him around the boat which they thought the most curious they had even seen. It looked like a great two story house with porches front and back and a pilot house set on the upstairs front porch. Of course it was flat bottomed, for the small river they would travel was too shallow in places for any other sort of boat. The captain told them that even though it drew but two feet of water it often went aground and had to be pushed off shore by means of great poles--“that’s the reason we have to carry such a big crew,” he added.

Inside were two floors with bedrooms--staterooms Mary Jane found they were called--all around the sides of each. Mrs. Merrill’s rooms, two of them, were side by side on the upper floor; that was nice for it was easy to speak through the thin wooden wall that was the only partition.

“But I see the wooden shutter is nailed shut,” said Mrs. Merrill as she stepped into the larger room and attempted to raise the old fashioned sliding shutter. “We’re fresh air fiends, Captain,” she explained laughingly, “and I guess I’ll have to trouble you to raise that blind.”

“Well, er--well,” said the captain hesitatingly.

“Of course if it’s too much trouble,” said Mrs. Merrill, in a puzzled voice.

“Not a bit,” answered the captain, “not a bit. But you see, in the night we go through pretty wild country and the trees over-hang the boat. It doesn’t often happen,” he added half apologizing, “but occasionally a snake drops off a tree and gets in if the window is open.”

“Ugh!” shivered Mrs. Merrill, “between snakes and no air, I think I’ll take the poor air _one_ night! I had no idea we were going through such wild regions!” she added a bit skeptically.

When they returned to the deck after they had arranged their bags and seen to covers for the night, they were amazed at the difference in the scenery. The boat had left the big St. Johns River and was twisting and turning up the winding little Ocklawaha which was wild enough to satisfy any one. The girls found two other children on the deck, Ned and Katherine Ritter of New York, and the four of them sat at the very front of the boat and kept count of the creatures, snakes, turtles, squirrels and wild hogs that they saw on the bank. Ned counted the snakes because they were the worst. Alice had the turtles because they were the hardest to see; Katherine did the squirrels and Mary Jane the hogs--she liked those the best because they made such fearful grunting noises--noises that made a person glad they were on a boat counting instead of walking in those deep woods.

After supper the passengers all came out on the deck again and the deep night of the forest was weirdly lit up by a great searchlight that flashed from the top of the boat; it made the trees and mosses look like a great fairyland of dreams.

“Couldn’t I just go to sleep in my chair here?” asked Mary Jane when her mother suggested bed time; “I’m so comfy here.”

“Indeed no!” laughed Mrs. Merrill; “you’d be stiff as a poker in the morning. I’ll go in with you and Alice and stay till you get in bed, then in about an hour I’m coming to bed too. You know we want to be up early in the morning.”

“What do we do in the morning?” asked Mary Jane, slipping out of the chair and taking her mother’s hand.

“Oh, we ride on the boat till ten o’clock and then we stop at an orange grove and then we ride some more. And I shouldn’t wonder but what we’d see some of those alligators you’ve been wanting to see. To-morrow’s the time for them.”

“Then I’ll go to bed quick,” said Mary Jane willingly, “’cause I want to be up and see ’em before Ned does. ’Cause the first one who see ’em gets to count ’em.”

“Good night, Mr. Captain,” she called as they passed the pilot house, “I’m going to see alligators in the morning.” And in barely ten minutes, Mary Jane was sound asleep.

“HELP YOURSELVES, CHILDREN! HELP YOURSELVES!”

“Those girls won’t be awake for an hour yet!” said a voice just outside Mary Jane’s window the next morning; “I’ll bet I see the first alligator all right!” But Ned Ritter shouldn’t have been so sure! He little guessed that as he was taking his early morning walk around the boat with his father, he made that rash remark just outside the Merrill girls’ window. And still less did he guess that Alice, just waking up, heard him.

“Mary Jane! Mary Jane!” she whispered; “let’s get up!”

No answer.

“I’ll have to wake her,” said Alice to herself. She bent over the edge of the upper berth where she was sleeping and gave Mary Jane’s elbow a vigorous pull. Mary Jane was that surprised she sat straight up in bed even before she opened her eyes.

“Where is it?” she asked, evidently thinking of alligators.

“Goodness knows!” laughed Alice in a more natural voice now, for Ned and his father had walked out of hearing. “But if we want to see anything first, we’d better be getting up, Mary Jane, because Ned’s out on deck and maybe Katherine is too.”

“Let’s ask mother if we can’t get up now,” suggested Mary Jane and she tapped on the partition. They had made up a code before they went to bed the night before so Mrs. Merrill knew exactly what they meant to say. One tap meant “Mother, are you there?” two taps meant “Please I want a drink,” and three taps meant “Is it time to get up?”

“I was just listening for those taps,” said Mrs. Merrill, at the door of the stateroom; “open the door, girls, and I’ll help you dress. I’m all ready and you want to get out doors as soon as you can--it’s a beautiful morning!”

With her help at buttons and with their hair the dressing business went very quickly and in a very few minutes all three were out on the deck.

“No alligators yet,” Ned’s disappointed voice greeted them.

“I should say not!” laughed the captain who went by just in time to hear what was said. “Wait till the sun gets up high and the air is hotter--then you’ll see them! Had breakfast yet?”

After breakfast he took the four children up by his pilot house and let them sit on a bench there that gave them a fine view of the river and woods. But though they looked and watched till their eyes ached, not a ’gator did they see!

“I don’t believe there are any,” exclaimed Alice in disgust, “and I’m going to walk around the back of the boat. When we go around that bend we’re coming to I’m sure I can pull some leaves off that great tree. And I’d love to have them in my collection--‘leaves pulled from the boat on the Ocklawaha’--wouldn’t that look well in my book?”

“I think I’ll go too,” said Katherine, who, when she saw how interested Alice was in her collection, immediately wanted to make one for herself.

“I think I’ll fish,” said Ned; “Father said once he caught a turtle from the boat.” And he too disappeared from the captain’s deck.

Mary Jane, left alone, couldn’t quite make up her mind what to do. It wasn’t any fun staying up there all alone, for the captain was so busy with his steering that he wasn’t a bit of company; she had a notion to go to the back of the boat with the other girls.

Just as she was slipping down from the bench she heard a splash at the bank on the south side of the river, and looking quickly, she spied a great log floating slowly down the stream.

“What made that log fall in?” she asked curiously; “I didn’t see anybody push it!”

Splash! There went another one!

“Funny!” exclaimed Mary Jane to herself now much interested; “now what made _that_ one go, I wonder.” Just then Mrs. Merrill came to the foot of the ladder leading to the captain’s deck.

“All right, Mary Jane?” she asked; “want some company?”

“’Deed yes, Mother,” cried the little girl; “do come up here and see these funny logs! What makes them fall into the river when nobody pushes them? There!” she exclaimed, excitedly, “there goes another one!”

Mrs. Merrill looked quickly to where Mary Jane pointed and was just in time to see--a great alligator go sliding into the water!

“Those aren’t logs,” she said, “those are alligators, child! Quick! Let’s call to the others so they can see them too!” But just as she spoke the captain’s voice rang out, “Alligators on the left!” and all the passengers rushed over to see the great creatures as they floated, log-like, down the river.

“That was a good sight,” said the captain; “you must be a mascot, Mary Jane; because we haven’t seen three together yet this season.”

The Merrills found the trip all that it had been promised them. They saw great virgin forests where the trees locked arms over the river; they saw Indian battlefields and Indian burying grounds and then later in the morning, the forests cleared away and about eleven o’clock the boat stopped by an orange grove and everybody piled off for refreshments.

“Eat all you can,” said the owner cordially, “but all you want to carry away, you have to pay for. Just help yourselves, children, help yourselves!” he added as the children hesitated.

“Goody!” said Alice; “this is the first time I ever had the chance to save money by eating! Come on, Mary Jane, let’s begin!”

The pretty little orchard lay on the side of a hill and the orange and lemon and tangerine and kumquot trees were set in neat rows on either side of the walk that led up to the house at the top. The trees were young and the children could easily reach the branches and pick their own fruit.

“I like oranges best,” said Katherine, running to a pretty orange tree.

“I’m after tangerines,” called Alice as she spied a tree of her favorites not far away.

“Well, I don’t want lemons--sour old things!” exclaimed Mary Jane when she saw that she had picked the wrong tree; “I want those little things.”

“Kumquots,” said Mrs. Merrill; “I do too, dear. Here’s a tree.”

It was fun to pick the fruit directly from the long hanging branches; and still more fun to suck the sweet juice with which the golden fruit was filled.

“Who’d have guessed,” exclaimed Alice, “that tangerines could be so juicy--not I!”

But after a little while, appetites were satisfied and the children wanted to play.

“I’ll tell you what let’s do,” suggested Mary Jane after she had eaten about a dozen kumquots and had decided that she simply couldn’t eat another suck; “let’s play house and each tree’ll be a house and that great big old tree’ll be a hotel.”

“And we’ll dress up and be queens and go to visit,” added Alice.

“How you going to dress up in an orange orchard where there aren’t any clothes?” asked Katherine.

“Oh, you don’t have to have real clothes to dress up in--not every time, you don’t,” said Mary Jane scornfully; “Alice can fix it--you see!” and she turned to hear her sister’s plan.

“We’ll make crowns out of orange leaves,” said Alice, quickly picking a few and weaving them together; “see how pretty and glossy they are. Just put them on your head this way, Katherine. There! That’s becoming! Now you make a bigger one and I’ll do one for Mary Jane and for me. You girls pick the leaves for me so I can make them quickly.”

“Then if we’re queens we shouldn’t live in a house, should we?” asked Katherine.

“I should say _not_!” exclaimed Mary Jane. “These aren’t houses,” she added, waving her hand grandly toward the trees nearest at hand; “these are palaces--your palace and Alice’s palace and mine. And that big one over there we were going to have be a hotel, it’s a banquet hall now.”

Just as the royal play was getting well under way a man came around with paper bags. “Put all the fruit you want to buy in these,” he announced, “and pay for it at the dock when you get aboard the boat.”

“Let’s not bother,” said Katherine; “we don’t want to stop playing.”

“We don’t have to,” replied Alice laughingly, and she picked up the bag the man had laid under her tree; “these are cloth of gold sacks and we’ll fill them with gold nuggets to take to the good queen mother.”

“Why, so we can!” cried Katherine happily; “come on, let’s hurry and get a lot!”

It was a good thing they did hurry for even so the boat’s great whistle sounded before the bags were full and the captain’s call through a megaphone urged them to hurry aboard.

“Well, seems to me you don’t intend to be hungry for a few days,” said Mrs. Merrill laughingly as she saw what full bags the children were carrying. “I thought you were too busy playing to pick any and so I got enough for us all. But never mind,” she added, as she saw the girls were looking disappointed; “it’s all so good and it’s wholesome eating too, so we’ll keep it if you don’t mind carrying it.”

The rest of that day’s wonderful ride seemed to Mary Jane like living in a picture show. Not long after they left the orange orchard the great boat turned into the tiny Clear River that runs into the Ocklawaha and it almost seemed as if the broad decks were spreading over the whole of the little stream! Here the water was clear as crystal and the girls could see every fish and turtle and water snake that scurried out of their way as they steamed up stream. In the bright noon sunshine they came into the little lake at the head of the stream and there they got out of the big boat and were rowed around in a small glass bottomed boat. It seemed awfully queer to look through the glass at their feet and see the bubbling of the hidden springs and to watch the bright colored pebbles and stones that tumbled about deep down among the rocks like gay pieces of confetti tossed about in the sunshine.

Then there was the scramble into the big touring car, the drive across country to Ocala, luncheon at the queer station dining room where Mary Jane, for the first time in her life, had the fun of sitting up to a counter to eat, and the rush for the train that was to take them up to Jacksonville and Dadah.

“Well,” said Mary Jane with a sigh of relief as she sank into the comfortable Pullman seat, “I just a-going to sit here all afternoon and think and think and think--I am!” But she didn’t count on the many queer things that may happen in Florida.

PIGS BY THE WAY

For more than an hour Mary Jane sat and thought as she had planned to; she thought of all the interesting sights she had seen since she left home; she thought of the new friends she had made and of the fun she had had playing in the many places she had been. Then suddenly it occurred to her that their train was standing still.

“Doesn’t this train go like regular trains, Mother?” she asked.

“Evidently not,” replied Mrs. Merrill, who also had been noticing how much time was being lost; “we stop at every corner store, I do believe, and wait to chat about the weather.”

Mary Jane laughed at the idea of a train stopping to talk about the weather. “What’s it saying now?” she asked and she sat up straight and looked out of the window. Such a sight! “Yumy yum, yum!” she cried eagerly. “Mother, may we have some too?”

Mrs. Merrill and Alice had been watching out the window while Mary Jane had been thinking and resting so they knew just what she meant. On either side of the train, stretching as far as a person could see, were rows and rows and rows of--strawberries. Strawberries so big and red and ripe and luscious that they could be seen--those on the nearest vines of course--from the train window. And all the strawberry plants near and far showed signs of being loaded with fruit. Over the rows bent the pickers, busily working, and here and there were groups of workers sorting and packing the berries into boxes and crates ready for shipping.

“Oh, Mother!” exclaimed Mary Jane, “I’ll bet they’re taking them onto our train! I just know they are.”

“To be sure!” agreed Mrs. Merrill, “that’s the reason we stop so often. This is the strawberry and lettuce country and every time we stop we take on piles of express that will go to hungry folks up north. Now you know how we get our early lettuce and berries and what sort of a place it comes from.”

“Yes, I know it,” said Mary Jane, “but couldn’t we eat some now.”

“Yes, Mother, couldn’t we?” urged Alice, “just look at those berries!” she added as a team of horses pulled a great wagon by their window--a wagon piled high with crates of strawberries, as they could tell by the glimpses of red fruit inside.

Just then a little negro boy came by their window peddling berries and Mrs. Merrill was able to buy a box of berries for the girls--berries so clean and sweet and ripe that they could be eaten at once without a thought of washing or of sugar.

As the train pulled up for another stop some fifteen minutes later, the Pullman conductor came into their car and spoke to Mrs. Merrill.

“There’s something at this stop that your girls may enjoy seeing,” he said, “and if you will allow me to escort you--”

“Something my girls should see?” questioned Mrs. Merrill in surprise.