There, right below them, was a head more fearful than anything Beth had
imagined. There was no doubt of the reality of this fearful
apparition. The jaws and teeth that Harvey had spoken about were even
worse than he had predicted. Slowly, slowly, those loathsome jaws
parted. Beth looked down into that awful gulf, like a great dark pit,
opening to receive her. There were the two rows of gleaming white
teeth ready to devour girls who screamed. How she kept from screaming
she never knew. Perhaps she was too much paralyzed with fear.
However, she kept so still that she hardly breathed. The color ebbed
out of her face.

Harvey picked up some meat that lay on the wharf beside him, and threw
that and the bread into the waiting mouth below. The jaws snapped
together, and opened again as suddenly.

Beth shuddered a little, involuntarily. She wondered if she would have
disappeared as quickly as the meat if she had screamed.

Harvey had no more food for the animal below. It waited an instant,
then slowly sank. The waters closed where the head had been. Beth
felt as though she were wakening from a horrible nightmare.

"Three cheers for Beth," cried Harvey so unexpectedly that she gave a
great start.

"Was it a dragon?" asked Beth with her eyes unnaturally big.

He laughed. "A dragon---- No, indeed. It's only a 'gator."

"A 'gator---- Would it really have eaten me if I had screamed?"