"Hey! Gator boy" yelled the tourist from the launch, "Let me see what you've got there". "John Dukes" responded the boy as he paddled his dugout canoe closer, "is my name sir, gators is what I sell." "Right gator boy", laughed the tourist as he gazed into the swirling mass of reptiles in the bottom of John's boat. He picked a particular fat 5-footer from the six or so that he had captured earlier today. Actually it was the one he was planning on saving for his mother for the cook pot tonight. But business is business and the tribe needed the funds, for it had been an extremely hard winter last year. So he pocketed the ten dollars and got the address of the hotel and promised to have the butchered gator there before sundown. As he paddled around to the other luxury boats he made similar deals, before he knew it he had sold every one of the reptiles and did not have anything left to take home for supper.

Later after dusk as he tied his boat to the tribal dock on the edge of their village, John saw his mother, waving at him from the doorway of their modest home. He knew why she was waving, the water was hot and she was waiting for the meat to put in the pot. John held up his hands in an empty gesture and shrugged his shoulders. He was ashamed that he had not provided meat for his family tonight. Despite the fact his mother waved him on in just the same, never changing her expression never losing the smile she had for her son. As she turned and walked back into the house she quickly dumped the meatless water down the drain and put the pot away so John would not feel any worse. After John had turned in his money to the tribal elder he came in to greet his mother. "Sit down son, dinner is ready." John barely picked at the steaming plate of meatless supper set before him. His appetite was as gone as that fat gator now sitting in the hotel freezer all cut up and wrapped for the tourist. John's mom knew better than to dwell on the subject any more so she tried to lighten the mood a little by switching the subject to the tribal Spring festival coming up next week. "Are you going to ask Moon Flower?" questioned his mother. John shook his head and stated that he would not be going to the festival at all. That he had somewhere else to go that weekend. In the mood that John was his mother knew not to pursue the subject any further.

The night before his planned journey, John went down to his boat, at the bow he reached far up under to the secret place he had carved an opening and took out a leather pouch from it. The pouch was made from the skin of a young gator, but unlike the brown hard skins of the white man, John's pouch was soft and pliable. That's why John's hides brought sometime three times the price of the other hunters. And being the son of the chief he was allowed to use those tribal secrets, as long as he did not tell anyone else.

"Son of the chief" mimicked his peers. "What chief?" True, his father had been gone for a month now and many had feared him lost. According to tribal law the time was approaching to appoint a new chief in the absence of the old one. That was another secret John held in his heart as to why his father had yet to return. A deep terrible painful secret that he could not share with anyone. Because, he had caused his father's death.

A month ago his father had left on a hunt. Determined to bring back a large gator for the village finances. As he paddled off, he had forgotten his food pouch in which his wife had packed all his favorite foods. She gave it to John and told him to catch his father. Now John was the second best paddler in the village. The only problem was he was trying to catch the best, his father. As he followed his father through the backwaters of the great swamp he suddenly came up short when he realized where his father was heading. Duke was just entering the headwaters of Dark Water Swamp. A place where it was rumored were the largest gators in the entire Everglades. Many trappers had entered and never returned.

John carefully entered the swamp following the telltale algae disturbance that his father's boat had made. As he rounded a turn in the channel John stopped paddling in mid stroke. There was his father standing in the bow of his boat arm poised high above his head holding his rope pole. His boat was slowly approaching the largest gator John had ever seen in his life. The giant seemed to be sleeping on the surface of the lagoon. Closer and closer Duke came to the sleeping giant. The sun to his face so as not to cast a shadow across the gator's eyes. The only problem with that was that he would have to take the monster head-on instead of from the rear where the animal is blind-sided. Totally engrossed in his father's actions John did not realize that his own boat was also drifting towards another sleeping giant. At the last moment Duke saw the situation out of the corner of his eye. Just before the bow touched the gator's snout Duke hollered to his son. Too late, the little boat hit the unsuspecting gator. The resulting roar and the noise made from the gator thrashing around of course, aroused the gator Duke was now directly on top of. The gator reared up under the bow and Duke's boat was flung high into the air. Duke was thrown into the water. The last sight John saw of his father was trapped in the gator's jaws, his fingers gouging the giant’s eyes. John almost forgot about the large reptile under his own boat. He reared up also, but John's boat was so small it washed off his back with the rest of the swamp water. But with such force that when it hit John fell and was knocked out on the side of his boat.

John woke, his head felt terrible. Helplessly John paddled to where he last saw his father. Silence was all that filled the air, "Dead Silence" As he drifted along something plopped against the side of his boat. Fearful that it might be the gator coming after him, John froze. When nothing happened, John looked over the side and saw the eye of the giant gator that took his father floating beside his boat. Quickly he grabbed the eye up and tossed it into his boat and swore a vengeful reprisal towards his father's killer. Then afraid that he gator might attack him to get his eye back, John paddled as fast as he could toward home. John never told anyone what had happened that fateful day. He bore the shame and guilt that he had caused his father's death. He vowed to the Great Spirit that one day he would avenge his father and kill the monster that had taken away the village chief. Now as John stood and looked across the waters toward Black Water Swamp, in the pre-dawn light he touched the pouch now suspended from a leather thong from his neck.

Yesterday a trapper passing by stopped for some much needed repair to his boat. The men of the tribe of course helped him repair the craft. John however, recovered a large 6 inch tooth imbedded in the hull, and questioned the trapper as to what happened to his boat. The trapper explained that he was fishing for his supper and had caught an exceptionally large catfish. He gutted it and as he was rinsing out the carcass, this humongous gator with only one eye came up out of the depths snapped at his boat, made him drop his supper and then took off with it. Usually when a gator attacks after the strike he will submerge, but the trapper said this ole boy just cruised on the surface like he was king of the swamp. "Which way was he heading? " asked John. "He was agoing towards Black Water Swamp son", replied the trapper. "Why you thinking of going after him?" questioned the old man. "Better grow a mite first son, that ole lizard is a mean sort".

That was all the information that John needed. He prepared all that day and the next, gathering all the best ropes in the rope shed. His father's ropes were all hand-made and rumored to be the best in the Seminole nation. Well he was certainly going to put them to the test. He went to the prayer chamber, cleansed his spirit and made his peace with the Great Spirit. Said a silent good bye to his mother and brothers and now slid his boat into the dark waters of the channel. Paddling with strong decisive strokes John pointed the bow towards Black Water Swamp. Dawn was just breaking over the horizon when John entered the Black Water Swamp. Steering away from the main channel John turned into a little tributary, which he followed for almost a mile, winding and turning back on itself. It made a great hiding place. a place where John hid something from everyone's eyes. At the end of the stream it opened up into a beautiful clear water spring fed lagoon. John was not afraid here. For he knew that the scaly giants did not like the clear cold water but preferred the dark humid water further in to this. Tied to a tree was his father's boat, just a John had left it. He transferred all his supplies into the larger craft from his own. After all he was here to avenge his father, what better way than in his father's own boat. Now as he paddled toward the main channel, the water started turning darker and darker infected by the fungus which thrived in this place. Finally John reached the very spot where he last saw his father.

John waited all day. oh he saw plenty of gators, some of them quite large but they all had two eyes. His appetite was geared for one particular gator, one with only one eye. Finally as dusk was approaching John knew that he had better find a secure place to sleep as gator liked to prowl at night. So John beached his father's canoe and sought out a suitable tree in which to spend the night. Exhausted John quickly fell into a deep sleep. But not so deep that it kept him from reliving the events of his father's demise.

The glare of the hot morning sun woke John with a start. Or could it possibly be the noise of the giant one-eyed gator coming out of the lagoon and laying down directly under John's lofty perch. The great spirit surely has blessed me this day thought John. But then reality struck home, how could he get to his ropes they were all still in the boat. What a fool he was, maybe the trapper was right, he was too young. "No!" he exclaimed almost out loud, "I'll find a way." As the heat of the day grew more and more intense, steam rose from the floor of the swamp. John heard a rumble, which was repeated over and over at regular intervals. It was then that John realized that the sleeping giant was lost in deep slumber and he could safely gather his ropes. Gently he lowered himself to the ground. Very slowly he moved toward the canoe. By the Great Spirit thought John to himself, look at the size of this creature. John's father's boat was eighteen feet long. Ole one-eye's head was halfway past the bow and the stern of the boat was about the halfway point of his tail. That would make him over 25 feet in length. Most likely weighing over 2,000 pounds. John's plans now took a turn. If he killed the monster there, then there of course would be a lot of money and fame, but that would eventually would run out. Now if he could capture this creature and bring it home, he could lease it to the gator zoo and make money every day. He knew that now he must take this creature alive.

There are primarily two ropes used in capturing a large gator. The first goes around the tail and that is secured to a strong tree, and the next around the head, which is a bit more tricky. First John had to get the creature to raise his tail but at the same time not wake up. Not just yet anyway. Reaching into his pocket John took three pebbles for just that purpose. He lightly tossed them one at a time against the bow of the boat. The creature stirred, moved his tail and John set the first noose snug but not tight. The next one is a bit more on the tricky side. If he missed it would of course mean certain death for John. The second rope had to be thrown over a tree strong enough to withstand the tremendous thrashing that was going to occur when ole mister gator woke up. John knew the care he must excercise because of the impending danger and it was getting late and the later it got the cooler it got. Gators don't like the coolness.

Deciding to risk the throw, John so very carefully laid the forward portion of the noose just in front of the gator's snout. He could not help but notice the size of the teeth protruding from those giant jaws. A cold shiver ran down his back. Then something strange happened, a smell one very familiar to John crossed his senses. He knew that smell so well, but the intenseness of the moment eluded the source from him. Oh well he thought, it was just my imagination as he gave a mighty heave the rope flew up and over the fork in the tree and fell straight down where John could catch it. However a big ole glades skeeter had other plans. As John reached for the rope the skeeter stung him on the back of the neck causing him to miss the rope completely.

Well sir, ole one-eye was quite active now, for you see that rope fell and whopped him right across the snout. Lucky for John he was standing on his blind no-eye side so it took a second anyway to grab the rope and pull with all his might. Now ole one-eye did not appreciate this action one little bit. Now John had planned his actions very well. As the gator lunged for him the noose in the rear cinched tightly and the creature was stopped dead in his tracks. But don't you know a 2,000 pound gator has a little more pull that John's mere 145 pounds. One-eye started backing up, causing the rope to tighten up in John's hands. John pulled with all his might, but still the gator gained ground. There's that smell again thought John only this time it was so strong. All at once a pair of large brown strong hands that John knew very well grabbed the rope and together John and his father tied off the gator to another tree. So that he could go neither forward or backward. He knew the smell it was his mother's get well salve as she called it. Used for burns and gator bites it kept the infection out so headling could set in. Every Seminole knew the basic recipe but his mom squeezed an orange into the mixture. The orange triggered John's memory and the only other person who would know the secret was his father. John turned and embraced his father as tight as he could. Duke grimaced in pain but returned the embrace with equal force..

Later that night around a small fire, Duke told his son how he had gotten away from the giant. It seems that the gator that his son's boat had hit saw Duke fall into the water and was more interested in him than John. So he attacked the much larger gator. One-eye released his grip on Duke in response to the new aggression and Duke swam away and hid in the mangroves. Later he saw his son looking for him but was afraid to call out to him for fear that the creatures would still be around. When he saw his son pluck the eye from the water he knew that he would return. His only prayer was that he would recover from his ordeal to be able to help when the time came. He found a wild orange tree and added some juice to his wife's special medicene. It did nothing to aid his physical healing, but it sure soothed his emotional healing.

As the night wore on they could hear one-eye thrashing and bellowing in the distance. Each time they checked on him, they tightened the ropes a little more. Soon he was completely immobile. The next morning the cut some stout straight trees and lashed them all around the now exhausted gator. Untied from his two ropes the creature tried to break free one last time. But Duke and his son had done their job well. Now they rolled him into the water and tied him to the boat. They also had to place to outriggers on the opposite side to counteract the immense weight.

As they passed the little tributary John questioned his father about the other boat. "From this day forth that creek will be known a boyman creek, where a boy went in and a man returned. Also from this day forth this boat is yours my son. You have earned it with the greatest of honors. Look at the bow, I added something while you slept last night." Painted on the bow was a caricature of John holding the one-eyed gator between two trees. "No longer will you have to hunt the meat for the tourist's table, today you are a man of the tribe." John was never so proud. But not as proud as his father at this moment. As they got within 5 miles of home John started blowing his conch shell horn to let the village know that he and his father were returning. The whole village flocked to their boats and came out to greet them and gaze at the monster they brought home, alive.

Well sir, Duke and John arrived safely home with both the gator and Duke's honor intact. The tribal council voted that Duke would be chief for as long as he desired and that when the time came that he retired, John would take over. Then came festival time and John walked hand in hand with Moon Flower to the edge of the dock where one-eye, still bound completely by the poles waited for the zoo people to arrive in the morning. John stood where he knew the gator could see him with his good eye, taking the plucked eye from its pouch he dropped it into the murky waters below. It almost seemed as if one-eye let out one last belabored moan as he watched his eye disappear.

If you believe in something strong enough, stick with your feelings. Stand by your values and you'll be surprised at what you may accomplish.