Though it didn’t seem so at the moment, this was a remarkable stroke of providence. Aidan’s first instinct was to jump from the beast’s back and swim to safety. But it took him only a split second to realize that he had no chance of outmaneuvering an alligator in the water. He decided he was safer where he was. He scrabbled up the ridged back to a spot just behind the beast’s head. He reached up under the alligator’s forelegs and hugged as tightly as he could, trying to think what to do next.When the alligator recovered from the initial shock of having a boy leap onto its back, it began to thrash back and forth with a violence that nearly shook Aidan’s teeth loose. Aidan was nearly drowned with the splashing, and the bellowing roar of the furious alligator nearly deafened him. He was also taking a beating from the oaken pole, which had not broken free from the noose. But as long as he could maintain his grip, he was relatively safe. The alligator couldn’t bend its head around to bite him, and its tail, though it whipped around only inches away and could knock him senseless with a single blow, didn’t quite reach him.Aidan still had no plan of escape from this predicament.
