The Mystery of the Alligator Swamp (6 page)

“Just give me some more time,” Beau said. “I need more time.”

“Okay, but my offer isn’t going to last forever,” Travis warned. With that, he turned and walked back toward the fish camp.

Beau stood watching him go. Then he sighed. He looked around as if to make sure no one was watching. Then he pushed aside some bushes, stepped out past the children, and disappeared into shadows of the trees.

When they were sure he was gone, Jessie, Violet, and Henry stood up. “Do you think Beau and Travis were talking about selling the fish camp?” Violet said.

“It sure sounds like it,” Jessie said. “I can’t believe it. Could Travis and Beau be working together to get Billie to give up the camp?”

“Look at this,” Henry said. He pushed aside the branches where Beau had disappeared. Hidden behind them was a narrow trail leading into the swamp.

“Where do you think he was going?” asked Violet.

“I don’t know, but he was sure acting mysterious about it,” said Jessie.

“We could follow him,” suggested Henry.

“We have to get back to the camp,” said Jessie. “Besides, we should go when we know he isn’t, well, wherever it is he’s going on that trail. So he can’t catch us.”

“True,” said Henry. “We want to catch
him.”

Grandfather put on his life vest and looked up at Billie. She was standing on the dock. “I’d send Beau with you to act as a guide, if I could find him,” Billie said.

“We’ll be fine,” Grandfather said. “Your map is a good one.”

“Crying Bayou is a long way, though,” Billie answered. “But the way is well marked. It’s just outside Alligator Swamp. You’ll see my signs right up to the edge of it. You shouldn’t have any trouble.”

When the Aldens had told Billie they wanted to go to Crying Bayou, she had been surprised.

“We’re going to see if we can catch that ghost alligator before it scares away more fishermen,” Benny had explained.

“In Crying Bayou?” Billie had said.

“Where Eve said she saw it,” Henry had said.

“Well, if that’s where those fishermen think they saw it, too, they really
were
lost. It’s a long way from here. As a matter of fact, I don’t know what Eve was doing all the way over there,” Billie had said.

Now she leaned over and set a cooler in the pirogue. “Something to drink if you get thirsty and some cheese sandwiches. Also peanut butter.” She shook her head. “I’m out of chicken again, can you believe it?”

“Didn’t we just bring you some this morning?” Grandfather asked, surprised.

“I thought so, but it’s gone. I’m beginning to think I’ve got ghost chickens. They just get up and walk right out of my refrigerator.” Billie shook her head. “Go on. We’ll see you about sunset.” She untied the rope that attached the pirogue to the pier and tossed it to Henry. “Good luck.”

Jessie waved. Then she lowered her hand to her cap to shade her eyes even more. Who was sitting on the restaurant porch, peering out through the screen at them? She thought she caught a glimpse of dark glasses, but she wasn’t sure.

Henry steered the pirogue around a bend and the camp disappeared from sight.

The afternoon light was different from the morning light, but the swamp looked much the same. Benny kept an eye out for alligators. Jessie and Violet read the map and Grandfather sat by the motor.

At a wide bend, another boat came into view. It was Swampwater, leading one of his tours. He and Eve waved.

The boat hummed onward, cutting through the dark, sluggish water. Birds swooped overhead and Benny spotted another snake looped through a tree branch. Henry was careful not to steer the boat under that branch.

“We’ve reached the end of Alligator Swamp,” Jessie announced, looking up from the map.

“How can you tell? It all looks the same,” said Grandfather.

“Just ahead there is a short open stretch of water,” said Jessie. “Straight across, we should see a white marker. It points the way to Crying Bayou. Not far up the channel, we’ll see a tree with a split trunk. That’s Crying Bayou.”

A minute later, Henry steered the boat out onto a wide patch of water. They crossed it and Violet said, “There’s an arrow.” She pointed to a small white arrow made of wood, nailed to the stump of a tree.

Following the arrow, they turned up a very narrow channel. Branches leaned over the boat. “Watch out for snakes!” said Benny.

Luckily, they didn’t see any. They passed the tree with the trunk split into three smaller trunks.

“We’re here,” said Grandfather.

He stopped the motor. The pirogue floated gently on the water.

They saw no sign of an alligator, living or ghost. Jessie said, “Do you think that’s an alligator nest?” She motioned toward a big hump of mud and rotted plants and branches at one side of the bayou.

“With an alligator on it?” Violet asked, her eyes growing wide.

“I think it is an alligator nest, but an old one,” Grandfather said. “No tracks in the mud, and no broken plants around it where something heavy walked through them.”

“Let’s look at it,” Violet suggested.

Henry lifted an oar from the bottom of the boat and paddled enough to make the boat pull up next to the alligator nest.

“Make sure there are no snakes — or alligators,” said Grandfather. “Use the paddle.”

Henry gave the mound several good pokes with the paddle. Then he whacked the nest a couple of times. To everyone’s relief, no alligators came roaring down the side of the nest.

“I’ll take a look,” Jessie volunteered.

“Me, too,” said Benny. He jumped out of the boat after her.

It was a very big mound, almost like a small hill in all the flat water of the swamp. Keeping a sharp eye out for snakes or anything else that might bite, Jessie led the way up the mound. When she got to the top, she turned to give Benny a hand up.

They balanced carefully and looked down.

“Do you see anything?” called Violet.

“No,” said Jessie. She studied the mound at her feet. “No,” she said again. “It doesn’t look as if anything has been here for a long, long time. At least, no alligators.”

“No ghost alligators, either,” added Benny. He was disappointed.

“No footprints? Alligator tracks?” asked Henry.

“No tracks,” said Benny. He put his hands on his hips. “Ghosts don’t make tracks.” That was one of Benny’s rules about ghosts. He didn’t believe that ghosts left tracks.

“Any place where someone could have hidden and jumped out?”

Jessie laughed. “You mean, dressed in an alligator suit? No. No way that could have happened. It’s a straight drop into grass and water behind me. No place to really hide.”

She and Benny scrambled back down the alligator mound and into the boat. Henry turned it around. It wasn’t easy in such a narrow channel. It took a long time. He didn’t turn the motor on until they were facing back out the way they came. He was afraid of getting it stuck in the mud.

“I’m glad an alligator isn’t chasing us,” said Violet. “It would catch us for sure while we were trying to get the boat out of the bayou.”

“No kidding. And you can’t go much farther up this bayou. Look how narrow it gets just up ahead,” Jessie said.

They headed back the way they came, across the short stretch of swamp pond. Violet and Benny each took a side of the boat and looked for channel markers and arrows. “There,” said Benny, and Henry turned the boat.

“There,” said Violet a few minutes later. “It’s one of Billie’s arrows,” and Henry turned the boat in that direction.

They saw another arrow and turned again.

Suddenly Jessie said, “Wait!”

“What is it, Jessie?” asked Grandfather,

“This isn’t right. We’ve made a wrong turn,” said Jessie. She studied the map. “We’ve made lots of wrong turns.”

“How could we? We were following the arrows,” said Violet.

“I don’t know,” said Jessie. “But we’re supposed to be headed west toward the fish camp, and we’re not. We’re going in the opposite direction. Look, the sun is setting behind us.”

Sure enough, the sun was going down above the trees to the west — directly behind the direction in which the boat was headed.

“Let’s take a look at that map,” said Grandfather. He and Jessie both studied the map.

“We do appear to have gotten mixed up, somehow,” said Grandfather. “I think we need to go back the way we came.”

But after they turned the first time, they couldn’t find the next turn. Each channel looked the same. One tree was a lot like another.

“Maybe if we keep heading west, we’ll find the way,” said Violet in a small voice.

“We could do that,” said Grandfather. “But maybe it would be best if we stayed where we are.”

“That’s what you’re supposed to do as soon as you realize you’re lost in the woods,” Henry agreed. “It makes you easier to find.”

“Lost,” said Benny. “Are we lost?”

“Yes,” said Jessie. “Yes, Benny. We’re lost in the swamp.”

“Lost,” said Violet. Her heart sank. “Oh, no.”

“It’ll be all right, Violet. Billie can find us,” Jessie said. She tried to make her voice calm. But she was worried.

Soon it would be dark. Then they would be lost in the swamp in the dark.

“It’ll be night soon,” said Violet.

“And we took lots of wrong turns,” Benny said. “How will Billie find us?”

“And the swamp is so big,” Violet almost whispered.

“Billie will find us,” said Grandfather firmly.

Jessie said, “I don’t know how we got lost. We followed the arrows.”

“But didn’t you say the arrows didn’t match the map?” asked Henry.

“That’s right. I didn’t realize it right away. I was looking at the arrows and not at the map. I wonder if Billie made a mistake when she drew the map,” said Jessie.

“Or maybe we just didn’t read it right,” said Violet.

“It’s a pretty clear map,” Jessie said. “Look.”

“You’re right. It’s a good map. And the way to Crying Bayou isn’t that hard — just long,” said Henry.

Something swooped overhead and Violet squeaked.

“A bat, I think,” said Grandfather. “Good.”

“Good? Why?” asked Benny.

“Because bats eat mosquitoes. I hope that bat eats lots of mosquitoes before they all eat me,” said Grandfather.

“Oh,” said Benny.

Violet said, “Bats won’t hurt you, Benny. Don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried!” declared Benny “And maybe we’ll see the alligator ghost now.”

Violet shuddered. “Stop talking about ghosts, Benny,
please
,” she begged.

“Shhh,” said Jessie. “I heard something.”

“The ghost,” whispered Violet in a little voice.

“No,” said Jessie. “Shhh!”

They all got very quiet. Insects whined around them. A sluggish, hot breeze rustled in the trees.

“I didn’t hear any — Wait!” said Henry.

They all heard it this time. A voice was calling. They couldn’t quite hear the words, but it was no ghost.

“Over here!” Benny jumped up and the boat rocked. Violet grabbed her little brother and pulled him back to his seat.

“Let’s shout together,” said Grandfather. “One, two, three!”

On the count of three, they all shouted as loudly as they could. When they stopped, a voice came through the trees, “Hellooooo … helloooooo …”

Once again they all called, and once again someone returned the call. They shouted back and forth until, suddenly, they saw a light come around the bend of the bayou behind them.

It was Billie and Gaston. Gaston lowered his binoculars as their pirogue drew up to the Aldens.

“There you are,” said Billie. “I was beginning to get worried.”

“We knew you would find us,” Benny said stoutly.

Billie shook her head. “Huh,” she said. “
I
didn’t know it. Thought I might get lost myself. As if I didn’t have enough to worry about, someone has changed all my arrows and all the channel markers in this part of the swamp!”

“What?” exclaimed Henry.

“Why would someone do a thing like that?” gasped Violet.

Gaston snorted and made a face. “Tourists,” he muttered. “Playing stupid tourist jokes.”

“I don’t know,” said Billie. “But we can talk about this later. Let’s get back before it gets too dark to see your hand in front of your face.”

Benny immediately held up his hand. “It’s not that dark yet!” he reported.

That made Billie laugh. “Not yet. Come on.”

A floodlight was shining above the dock like a lighthouse lantern as the two boats motored up to the fish camp. “Looks like we have a welcome-back party,” said Grandfather.

“It sure does,” said Henry. “Beau and Eve …”

“And Travis?” said Violet in a low voice. “Why would Travis be waiting for us?”

“Well, well, well,” said Travis. “I didn’t think you could find them. But you did.” Was he disappointed? He sounded as if he might be.

“Oh, I’m so glad you’re back!” Eve said. “I was so worried. I didn’t know you were going with them!” She flung her arms around her uncle.

He hugged her, then said gruffly, “What’s this,
cher
?You didn’t think I could get lost in Alligator Swamp, now, did you?”

“No,” said Eve slowly. “But … well, I’m glad you’re back.”

Travis shoved his hands in his pockets. “See anything out there?”