Free The Mystery of the Alligator Swamp by Gertrude Chandler Warner Page A

her.”
    “Then we finally caught Marshmallow again. I thought we were safe,” said Rose. She glanced over at the Aldens. “Until you guys came up this afternoon saying you’d seen the ghost alligator.”
    Henry nodded. “It was a trick. We couldn’t let Billie’s place lose any more business.”
    “Didn’t you think about that?” Jessie asked. “Didn’t you care?”
    Rose blushed a little. “I know. I’m sorry. I just wanted to take care of Marshmallow.”
    “By feeding her and every alligator in the swamp my good chicken,” said Billie, smiling a little. She didn’t seem very upset. “A ghost alligator that’s real. Named Marshmallow. Who would have thought it? And detectives to solve the mystery, on top of that.” Billie’s smile turned into a grin. “I couldn’t ask for a better birthday present.”
    “Really? You’re not mad?” asked Eve.
    “How could I be? Nope, the only thing that’ll make me mad is if you don’t have fun at my birthday party this Saturday.” Billie chuckled. “Catching the ghost alligator — now, that’s a birthday gift of a story!”
    Just then someone knocked on the door. Billie waved. “Gaston! Just in time for dinner. And a story. A good swamp tale, and guess what.” Billie winked at the rest of them as Gaston came in the restaurant door. “We found your binoculars, too.”
    The porch of the Bait ’n Bite hummed with the noise of people eating and drinking, laughing and talking. Pirogues and ordinary boats lined the bayou out front. Cars filled the parking lot out back.
    Rose and Swampwater Nelson came up to where the Aldens were sitting out on the pier. They were talking to Eve and peering, from a safe distance, into the very well-made alligator cage where Marshmallow was staying. It had mesh over the top and was locked. It was right by the pier and had a tarp over it to shield the white alligator from the sun. She was floating in it, looking as if she might be listening to what everyone was saying.
    “Now that Billie has the ghost alligator where people can see her, business has been good,” said Swampwater.
    “Yep,” said Eve. “I’ll miss her.”
    “She’ll be happier at the zoo in New Orleans with the other alligators,” said Rose. “And now that she’s bigger, she’s too big for me to handle. But I’ll miss her, too.”
    “How did anyone ever think she was a great big ghost?” Jessie wondered aloud.
    “She’s big,” insisted Benny “Much bigger than me.”

    “Well, I guess it depends on how you look at it,” said Violet.
    She knew that to Benny, Marshmallow looked huge. But to most people, she would have seemed small. She wasn’t much more than four feet long. She had white skin with dark spots on it. Her blue eyes were startling to see, but she didn’t look at all like an enormous ghost alligator.
    “Pretty smart of you kids to solve the mystery,” said Swampwater. “If you four ever need jobs in the swamp, you let me know. I believe you might be smart enough to learn the swamp guide business.”
    Benny cried, “A swamp guide! That’s what I want to be!”
    “Are you giving away my job?” said Gaston, coming down the dock to join them.
    Swampwater grinned. “Nope. Not yet.”
    Looking from one to the other, Jessie said, “What job?”
    “Swamp Tours for the Birds,” said Eve proudly. “Uncle Gaston is going to be leading special tours for Swampwater. And I’m going to help. I’m even going to get binoculars of my own.”
    Her uncle raised one eyebrow. “Which you are going to pay for out of your tour guide assistant’s salary,” he reminded her.
    They smiled at each other.
    “Hey, y’all. Come on up here!” called Billie.
    “Let’s go,” said Henry, laughing.
    Everyone was still laughing when Beau banged on a table heaped with gifts near the front of the room. “Attention, everybody. We’re going to have cake and Gram Billie is going to open her gifts — but this gift first.”
    With a flourish, he pulled