"Nice boys, those fellows," said Higgins after a while. "I wonder
where they cut throats for a living? Can you make 'em out?"
Roger shook his head.
"I've heard there were a lot of bad men hiding out down here, and,
strange, but I never believed it. Apparently it's true; and it seems
we've stepped right into the midst of them."
"They called Davis a 'snooper.'"
"Well, I'm not worrying about Davis. From what I saw of him he's quite
able to take care of himself."
"I'll say he is. You too. You've come pretty near making pals of the
fellows we were fighting a little while ago."
"That was business. I don't want a whole lot of enemies strung out
along the river between me and civilization."
"Well, it looks as if the captain was honest about the trail at least,"
said Higgins, leaping over a pool of quivering mud. "It's fair, but
not good."
A cotton-mouth water snake, short, thick as a man's arm and
indescribably loathsome, wriggled on top of the mud as Roger prepared
to leap.
"Whoa, boy!" cried Higgins, glancing back. "Stand still while I get a
club." He broke off a thick branch from a custard apple tree.
"My God! what wood!" he exclaimed in disgust. "It's light as paper."
However, he managed to creep up behind the snake and slash off at a
blow the foul, flat head that reared itself above the slime.
"And I suppose this swamp is full of those things."
"Probably. But my land isn't in the swamp, remember; it's beyond the
head of the river."
"There's some real ground ahead; I can see the tops of some pines."
Half an hour later they entered a stretch of open country. A few
spindly pines grew near the river. To the north and west, as far as
the eye could reach, was a prairie, covered with a sparse growth of
grass. Small circular islands of palmetto scrub dotted the monotonous
scene and at rare intervals a clump of somber cypress told of the
presence of water. In a nearby bunch of palmetto a pair of horns were
visible; and a herd of wild cattle, incredibly thin and fleet, leaped
with a snort into the open, stared an instant at the intruders and
sprang out of sight with the speed of deer. A covey of small, brown
quail broke close at hand and sailed away, skimming the top of the
grass. Fox squirrels were to be seen through the hanging moss on the
cypress trees. A great whooping crane waded into view and flapped away
in clumsy fashion. A flock of teal duck, flying swift and true as an
arrow, came winging their way to the river. At the water hole where
the crane had been feeding the yellow eyes of a wildcat, cheated of its
prey, shone for a flash and withdrew. By use of his field glasses
Payne saw a mother turkey, low-crouched and stepping softly, leading
her brood to shelter in the scrub. Farther away the glasses picked out
the antlers and head of a small deer, peering above the brush.
Higgins had kicked a hole in the ground with professional interest.
"Sand! No good."
"Right. Come on."
The river frontage of the prairie was a scant mile. Its eastern
boundary consisted of a growth of custard apple. The small spreading
trees, fifteen feet at the topmost branches, were literally hidden
beneath a covering of the delicate moon vine. The vine wreathed itself
about the trunks and branches. It covered the tops, it stretched over
open spaces like closely woven tapestry; draped itself over everything,
its small green leaves and tiny pink-white flowers inextricably matted
together with the tree growth and making of the whole a delicate bloom.
A broad riding path had been cut through the tangle along the river out
to the open prairie. From the entrance a glimpse was had of a magic
interior. The sunlight struck fiercely down through the interstices in
the all-pervading moon vine, piercing the jungle shade with a myriad of
hard points of light. The path wound in and out, its course easy to
follow by the shaft of light in the gloom.
Inside, the atmosphere was that of a great conservatory. A dozen
tropical growths mingled their odors into an indefinable whole; and the
effect was akin to that of a subtle exotic drug, lulling the senses,
filling the whole being with a languor, a relaxation, a pleasant
enervation which it seemed well not to throw off. Outside on the
prairie the sun burned harshly; within, the scented shadows shielded
away the sun and wrapped round one a drugged warmth all its own. The
path and the open spaces beneath the stubby trees permitted sufficient
circulation of air so the effect was not stifling; but no winds swept
through there; the perfumes lay heavily in the air, old and potent, and
breathing a mystic, sensuous lure.
Payne bent forward, peering into the mystic recesses of the growth,
susceptible to its magic thrall in spite of his hardheadedness.
Higgins, the engineer, kicked deeply into the black dirt of the bridle
path.
"Muck. Good enough. If your stuff's like this you're a rich man."
"Don't you notice anything else about this place?"
"What do you mean?" Higgins, less sensitive than his employer,
required more time to feel the jungle's spell.
"It seems to me like the air is perfumed with poison somehow; and the
poison is very easy to take."
"It's the lotus effect," said Higgins presently. "I know it. I got a
taste of it down in Yucatan once. It makes you want to sit down
against the roots of a tree and have a woman bring you drinks. It's
bad medicine when you've got work to do. I feel it now. The old lotus
effect. _Poco tiempo_! Man, we're nearer the tropics than the maps
show."
"There's somebody coming."
It was a young negress crossing the path round a turn. Swaying
indolently she went her way, with drooping eyes and listless steps,
seeing no one, lost in the mysterious dreams which brought a sensuous
smile to her heavy lips. She vanished down a footpath leading from the
roadway to a cabin, which could be discerned a short distance in the
trees. A bull-like male voice of her race greeted her with lazy
laughter from the cabin, and with soft, sensuous laughter of elation
and relief she replied. Then the woods were silent once more, save for
the omnipresent twitter of the birds.
Tiny trails deviated from the bridle path at intervals, weaving their
way out of sight into the drugged depths of the plantations. Flaming
red cardinals flew to and fro before the intruders, and a small green
parrakeet clung upside down to a moon vine and whistled as they went
past.
Roger, who was in the lead, stopped abruptly. Down one of the bypaths
a strutting peacock had caught his eyes. A glimpse of water showed
beyond the gaudy tail of the bird, and a few steps toward it revealed a
circular bathing pool in the heart of the thicket. Large mats of
colored straw, thick rugs and cushions, all brilliantly hued, lay
scattered about on the pink-tinted concrete edges of the pool. A
wicker _chaise longue_ stood beneath a striped canopy of silk under a
shelter of moon vine; other lounging chairs were scattered about. The
water of the pool flowed, fresh and clear, from the wine skin of a
bronze bacchante, hideously squat and fat and green with age, which
with drunken eyes in a back-thrown head leered mysteriously down upon
the water. And the atmosphere of the place was akin to that of a
heavily scented boudoir.
Higgins was examining the daintily colored concrete with professional
interest.
"That's darn fine work. See how those mosaics and tiles are set in.
That's Italian work; we don't finish stuff as well as that in this
country. Yes, sir; some rich gazaboo has spent a barrel of money
bringing Dago workmen down here to make him a little swimming hole in
the jungle."
"It fits in with the whole scheme--the jungle, flowers, birds and
scents, doesn't it?"
"A sultan could wish for nothing better."
"Come on."
Though the air was heavy out in the bridle path, it compared to the
shut-in pool like a breath from out-of-doors. Payne led the way
hurriedly. The path curved slightly in the direction of the river.
The light of a large opening appeared ahead, and presently they came
abruptly upon a clearing. A large low building, Moorish in
architecture and tinted like the concrete of the pool, dominated the
scene. Beyond glistened the blue water of the tiny lake which was the
headwaters of the Chokohatchee River. At a canopied boat landing lay
moored a gleaming white yacht--the Egret.