THE HAPPY VALLEY 459 



rumors they grew definite and I found men ready 

 to swear to the length and locality of "Old John" 

 and "Big Ben." The sponsor for Old John 

 had seen the reptile on his bed and had carefully 

 measured the place with the barrel of his rifle, 

 but was not quite sure of the length of the rifle 

 barrel and was distinctly hazy about his method 

 of establishing the exact place which the alligator 

 occupied on his bed. The alligator was found 

 but proved to be less than eleven feet long. Big 

 Ben became more of a myth as we pursued him 

 and finally resolved himself into a tradition which 

 probably had its origin in the ark. One fresh 

 trail led to an Indian who confirmed it, — 



"Alpate (alligator) chobee (big) may be so 

 fourteen, ten feet." 



The Seminole found that saurian for us, but it 

 wasn't worth taking and he killed it for its hide. 



We canoed and camped, fished and photo- 

 graphed for years, Julian and I. He carried the 

 camera and always wanted human interest in his 

 pictures which usually I furnished. When a 

 hooked tarpon, or a harpooned porpoise wrecked 



