OFF FOR FLORIDA
At first the boys had an idea they could go down the Atlantic coast in
their motor boat, and so reach the beautiful land for which they were
bound. But the professor pointed out the terrors of Cape Hatteras,
which is a menace to even big vessels, so the chums decided on another
plan. They would ship the boat from Cresville to St. Augustine and
travel there themselves by rail. From St. Augustine they could start
down the coast, and go up the Indian river.
“Can’t we stop there a while?” asked Bob at this point.
“What for?” inquired Jerry.
“Why that’s where the best oranges in the world grow,” explained Bob,
as if that was reason enough. “Indian river oranges are fine!”
“You can stay there,” said Jerry. “We’ll go on to the everglades.”
“I’m not going to stay all alone,” remonstrated Bob. “You might wait
while a fellow gathered a few oranges, though,” and he assumed an
injured air.
“The trouble is your idea of a ‘few’ would mean a boat load,” came from
Ned. “But I guess we can gather some as we sail along.”
“Where do you plan to go from Indian River?” asked Mr. Slade.
“We’ll land at Titusville,” replied Jerry, running his finger along the
map, “and then--”
He was interrupted by a sudden movement on the part of Professor
Snodgrass, who had ceased to take part in the conversation, and an
instant later the room was in darkness.
“I’ve got him!” cried the scientist eagerly. “He’s in my hand on the
table, but I’m tangled up in the gas lamp hose. I must have touched the
stop-cock and turned off the light. Don’t move, please, any of you.
Some one strike a light so I can see to put my prize safely away.”
“What is it?” asked Mr. Slade as he ignited one of the gas jets of the
chandelier.
“One of the rarest specimens of June bugs,” was the professor’s answer.
“I saw him crawling on the table and I made a grab for him. He was
right under the gas hose hanging down from the chandelier to the table
lamp, but I didn’t think of that. I hope I didn’t hurt any one.”
“No, you only scared Bob out of his appetite,” said Ned.
“No, you didn’t!” exclaimed Bob. “I’m as hungry as--I thought you said
you were going to give us a lunch, Ned? I’m ready--” Then he stopped,
in confusion, for the others burst out into a laugh at him.
“Don’t worry, Chunky. You’ll get your lunch in time,” spoke Ned. “But
let’s get this trip settled first. Have you ever traveled in Florida,
Professor?”
“I caught some of the finest snakes there you ever saw,” replied the
scientist. “I have been over a considerable part of the state, and I’ll
be glad to renew my acquaintance with it again.”
“Then you can tell us if our plan is a good one,” went on Ned,
informing Mr. Snodgrass of what the boys proposed to do. From
Titusville, Ned explained, they would go by rail, with their boat, to
Lake Tohopekaliga, through the canal connecting that body of water with
Lake Hatchenana, across the latter lake, and again by canal to Lake
Kissimmee. From there they would go by the Kissimmee river to Lake
Okeechobee.
“That will give you plenty of opportunity for testing your motor boat,”
said the professor. “I think the route is a good one. The lower part
of Lake Okeechobee is wild enough to suit any one, and I may be able
to find there the rare butterfly for which I am searching. I will be
very glad to go with you, and I’ll be ready to start any time you boys
fix.”
Having given that much attention to the proposed trip, the scientist
devoted himself to the June bug, which was struggling to escape from
his hand. Mr. Snodgrass produced a small box, with a perforated cover,
and in it shut the protesting captive.
That done he jotted down in his note book certain facts about the bug,
its size, date of capture and the circumstances under which the catch
was made. The professor was nothing if not methodical.
“Then the first thing to be done,” observed Ned, when he and his chums
had once more gone over the map to see if they had selected the best
route, “is to get the boat ready for the trip by rail. I fancy the
_Dartaway_ doesn’t like being shipped on a car. She likes the water too
well.”
“No help for it,” remarked Jerry. “Some day we’ll have a big enough
boat to sail half way round the world in, and we’ll not have to depend
on trains.”
“I wonder if we’ll meet Noddy when we get to Florida,” mused Bob.
“Where did he say his cocoanut grove was, Ned?”
“He didn’t say, exactly, except that it wasn’t far from Lake Okeechobee,
and I didn’t care enough to ask him. It’s somewhere in the lower part, I
believe. But I hardly think we’ll meet him. Hope we don’t, for we always
have bad luck as soon as he or Bill Berry turns up.”
“I guess Bill will keep out of sight for some time to come,” remarked
Mr. Slade, who was listening to the talk of the boys. “I understand the
United States government is after him for his part in the lighthouse
plot, and when Uncle Sam wants a man he generally gets him. So I think
Bill will not trouble you this trip. Well, have you settled everything?”
“Pretty nearly,” answered Ned. “All except that I’ll have to have some
money for my share of the expenses.”
“I expected that!” exclaimed Mr. Slade with a laugh. “It takes money,
as well as gasoline, to make a motor boat go. Well I don’t mind, as
long as you boys take care of yourselves and don’t get into mischief.”
As the parents of the boys were well off there was no difficulty on the
score of funds, though, for that matter, the lads’ shares in the gold
mine were more than sufficient to pay their way on the various trips
they made.
They discussed their plans in detail, now and then appealing to
Professor Snodgrass for his opinion, but the scientist was busy looking
for a specimen of a black snapping bug which had flown in through a
hole in the screen to get at the light, so he paid little attention to
what the boys were saying.
“Well, I guess that’s all,” announced Ned, as he closed the big
geography. “We’ll start getting the boat crated up to-morrow.”
“Is that all?” asked Bob, with rather a blank look.
“Yes, what else is there to discuss?” inquired Ned.
“Chunky would like to discuss that lunch you promised,” said Jerry with
a laugh. “Eh, Chunky?”
“Well--” began Bob, looking somewhat sheepishly at Mr. Slade.
“Don’t mind me,” put in that gentleman. “Go ahead with whatever you had
planned. The professor and I will go out on the porch. I’ll smoke a
cigar to drive the mosquitoes over to Mr. Snodgrass so he can catch ’em
and sell ’em to a museum,” and he laughed.
The boys had their lunch, and, in justice to Bob it must be said that
Ned and Jerry ate almost as much as he did. They talked, between bites,
of their trip, and indulged in all sorts of conjectures as to what
adventures might lie before them. They imagined strange enough ones,
but they were as nothing to what really befell them when they got to
the land of the everglades.
The little party broke up about midnight, with mutual promises on the
part of the chums to meet early the next morning and get the _Dartaway_
in shape for the long trip.
They met at the river dock, where their boat was kept, and gave the
craft a good overhauling. Some changes had been made in the craft since
the trip on the Atlantic coast. The boat was more powerful, and was so
arranged that they could sleep on board, for it had a portable awning
and side curtains that could completely enclose the craft. Larger
bunkers for the stowing away of provisions and water had been put in,
the machinery had been overhauled and, save for a few minor changes,
the _Dartaway_ was ready for a long trip. These changes were made
during the next two days, and then the boat was enclosed in a stout
cradle. It was put aboard a flat car and, at the end of the week, had
started on the journey to St. Augustine.
As the boys were walking up the street from the depot they met a man
with a small gray moustache, who looked sharply at them.
“Excuse me,” he said, “but can you tell me where I can find a Mr. Noddy
Nixon? I’m a stranger in town, and I want to see him on business.”
“We can show you where he lives,” replied Jerry, “but he isn’t home.”
“Where has he gone?” and the man looked surprised at the news.
“He told me he was going to Florida, to look at a cocoanut grove he had
purchased,” interposed Ned.
“What part, if I may ask?”
“Near Lake Okeechobee.”
“That’s where we’re going,” put in Bob, who was rather impetuous.
“Indeed! Are you friends of his?”
“Not exactly,” replied Ned, stiffly.
“Then you’re not going together?”
“No, he has already started. We’re going from St. Augustine in our
motor boat,” came from Bob.
“Do you expect to see young Nixon there?”
“I don’t believe we will,” remarked Jerry, wondering at the man’s
questions.
“If you do I wish you would hand him this paper--no, I think perhaps
I had better try and send it through the regular channels,” and the
man seemed in doubt. “Would you give him a message if you saw him?” he
asked.
“We’d be glad to do you a favor,” said Ned. “What’s it about?”
“Just tell him to come home at once,” was the answer, and the man
seemed very much in earnest. “It is very important. I can’t tell you
just what, but say to him that if he does not come voluntarily we will
have to--. No, perhaps you had better not say that. It might frighten
him, and we don’t want to do that. Just tell him to come home to attend
to a matter of which he has already received official notice,” and the
man returned a bundle of papers to his pocket.
“We’ll do it,” spoke up Ned, “though we’re not sure of seeing him.”
“I understand. It’s only a chance, but I will be glad to take advantage
of it, and I will appreciate it very much if you can get that message
to him.”
The man moved off up the street, leaving the three boys somewhat
puzzled.
“I wonder who he was?” asked Bob.
“Don’t you know?” inquired Jerry.
“No; who was he?”
“One of the government inspectors of lighthouses. I saw him down at
Harmon Beach after Noddy and Bill, and the others in the gang, tried to
wreck the steamer by showing false lights.”
“Then he’s after Noddy for his part in that!” exclaimed Ned. “But I
thought they weren’t going to prosecute Noddy?”
“Maybe they want him for a witness against Bill Berry,” suggested
Jerry. “At any rate we’ll give him the message if we see him. He’s
to come home to attend to a matter of which he has already received
official notice. Probably he’s been subpœnaed and has skipped out for
fear of arrest. Maybe that’s why he said he was going to his cocoanut
grove. Say, boys, I’ll wager Noddy has gone to Florida to hide!”
“But why doesn’t the government attend to its own affairs and not ask
us to tell Noddy to come back?” inquired Ned. “That’s a queer way of
doing business.”
“Perhaps they haven’t any officials down near Lake Okeechobee,”
replied Jerry. “It’s rather desolate down there, I guess, and it would
be hard work to hunt around for an unknown cocoanut plantation and
locate Noddy. Maybe the matter is not of much importance, and that man
may think we’ll do to deliver the message. Anyway I believe I’m right
and that Noddy has fled from Cresville because he’s afraid of something
in connection with the attempt to wreck the steamer, and his part in
the attack on Mr. Hardack, the lighthouse keeper.”
“I’d like to see Noddy get his desserts,” interposed Bob. “He’s done us
a lot of mean turns, but, somehow or other he always manages to sneak
out of the consequences. If I get a chance I’ll scare him with this
message. I’ll tell him the government detectives are after him with a
pack of bloodhounds.”
“Better wait until we find him,” advised Jerry. “Lake Okeechobee is a
big place and there’s a slim chance that we will meet Noddy.”
“I thought there was something more than a new cocoanut plantation that
made him want to hurry out of town,” spoke Ned. “I remember now he
acted, while he was talking to me, as if he was afraid of some one.”
“That was your imagination,” said Jerry with a laugh. “But come on;
let’s go home and get ready for the trip, and let Noddy’s affairs take
care of themselves.”
The boys packed their belongings, bade their friends good-bye and, on
Wednesday of the following week, were ready to start on their trip to
the quaint old city of St. Augustine.
“I hope the boat is there, waiting for us,” remarked Bob.
“Yes. It wouldn’t be much of a joke if it went astray,” agreed Jerry.
“All ready?” asked Professor Snodgrass, as he came down to the depot.
“All ready,” replied Ned.
The scientist seemed to have suddenly increased in size, for he bulged
out on all sides.
“What is it?” asked Jerry, looking in wonder at his learned friend.
“What? Oh, those are specimen boxes I put in my pockets. I had no room
for them in my trunks,” Mr. Snodgrass answered. “I also have a portable
net for capturing insects with. I must lose no opportunities. I may see
some valuable insects on my way down.”
“Here comes the train!” exclaimed Bob, as a whistle sounded in the
distance. “Get your baggage together!”
There was a confused scramble, as there always is at the last minute,
no matter what preliminary preparations have been made. The boys and
the professor gathered up their grips, for their trunks had been
checked. The train rolled into the station. They scrambled up the
steps, and got seats together. Just as the train was pulling out of the
depot the boys heard some one yelling at them.
“Hold on! Wait a minute! Stop! I want to speak to you!” was the cry.