The Mystery of the Alligator Swamp Read Online Free Page B

it, too.” The man’s friend nodded.
    “Of course, it didn’t try to eat them,” Eve said. She sounded as if she were trying to convince herself. “Where did you see it?”
    Ed, who was bald and had a round, red face, seemed to get redder. “We don’t know how far,” he admitted. “We kind of lost our heads when we saw it swimming toward us. It was still pretty dark and we took off and we got kind of turned around.”
    “But it wasn’t far from here,” insisted the other man.
    “I see you’re in one of the boats from Billie’s fish camp,” Swampwater said.
    Nodding and wiping his sweaty face with a damp bandanna, the red-faced man said, “That’s right. We left yesterday afternoon for an overnight fishing trip.”
    “Which was going fine until that ghost gator came at us and Ed got scared and got us lost,” said his red-haired friend.
    “You wanted me to stick around and be alligator bait? We’re not lost now, are we?” said Ed.
    “Then you don’t know where you saw the ghost,” Eve said. She sounded relieved.
    “No. Not really, I guess,” admitted Ed. “But not far from here.”
    Rose frowned. She glanced over at Swampwater, then said to the two fishermen, “Come on. We’re headed back to the Bait ’n Bite camp ourselves. We’ll show you the way.”
    Beau was on the dock as they pulled up. He reached down to grab the rope from the boat of the two fishermen. “Hey, there,” he said. “Good trip?”
    “If you like getting lost and getting chased by ghosts and alligators,” said the red-haired fisherman, scrambling out of the boat so fast that he made it bounce up and down on the calm water of the bayou.
    “Wow,” said Beau. “You saw the ghost alligator?”
    Interrupting each other, the fishermen told their story.
    “Looks like you caught some fish, anyway,” said Beau as he helped them take gear out of their boat.
    “Welcome back!” It was Billie, striding down to the end of the pier to join them. “You’re early,” she said to the fishermen.
    “They say they saw the ghost alligator,” Beau told Billie matter-of-factly.
    “We saw it, and that’s why we’re back early. In fact, we’re going to cut our whole fishing trip here short,” said the first fisherman.
    “Now, calm down,” said his friend.
    “You want to go back out there and get eaten alive?” the fisherman replied.
    “Eaten alive by an alligator? Maybe by a ghost alligator? Sounds terrible,” a new voice said. Travis, his eyes hidden behind sunglasses, was standing at the foot of the dock.
    “What?” Billie looked dismayed. “But you’ve reserved the cabin for a week.”
    “We want our money back and we want out of here,” said the red-faced fisherman. “Next time I go on vacation, it’s going to be someplace where your life isn’t in danger!” He turned to Travis. “You were right. There’s a ghost in the swamp.”
    Eve nodded knowingly. Rose looked uneasy.
    It seemed everyone was beginning to believe in the ghost alligator!

Chapter 5
Scary Stories for Breakfast
    Travis smiled. The sun glinted off his white teeth and his dark glasses. “It’s been chewing on the boats, too,” he said, pointing to the ragged edge of the old cypress pirogue.
    “Don’t be ridiculous,” Billie snapped.
    “Biting boats? That’s it. I’m getting out of here,” said one of the fishermen.
    “Now, wait just a minute,” Billie said. She followed the two fishermen up the pier and across the clearing toward their cabin.
    “I guess that ghost is not so good for business,” said Travis.
    Beau looked up. “No,” he agreed. “My grandmother doesn’t need all this worry. She was a lot more upset than she showed when she saw the cypress pirogue this morning. This camp is too much for her by herself.”
    “That’s what I keep telling her,” Travis said.
    His eyes met Beau’s. They looked at each other for a long moment. Then Beau picked up the rest of the fishermen’s gear and took it up to one of the cars