62 BRUNO 



CHAPTER X 



TULIUS and I always like to experiment 

 with new articles of food. We have no 

 sympathy with the kind of f ussiness that travels 

 around the world with its own lunch-box, dis- 

 daining everything strange or new. It is to us 

 part of the charm of changed surroundings to 

 test the native articles of diet. 



We had tried roast 'possum and stewed 

 gopher; we now began to long for a taste of 

 alligator steak. We had heard that to be at 

 all eatable the steak must be taken from the 

 fleshy part of the tail of a young animal before 

 the creature grows large enough to lose its 

 shiny skin ; so we were quite delighted one day 

 when we found that Bruno had cornered a 

 young one about four feet long. It was in a 

 little glade about three hundred yards from the 

 house ; and as soon as Julius found the cause 

 of Bruno's excitement, he hurried to the house 

 for the axe, and soon put a stop to the creature's 

 demonstrations. He was hissing at Bruno like 



