82 



Three Young Crusoes 



trees, they caught sight of a mangrove swamp not 

 far away and went to get a closer view of it. The 

 trees had spread like banyan trees and had collected 



Fig. 29. The sea grape, at Miami, Florida. 



earth and trash about their roots so that they were 

 fast filling up the shallow marsh, but there seemed 

 to be no ground firm enough to walk upon yet. 



"I wonder if we could get in there with the canoe," 

 said Henrv. "I should like to taste some of those 

 fruits." 



The words were scarcely uttered when a big al- 

 ligator came toward them on a run with his mouth 



