XXVII

White promptly made good his promise concerning the ditches. Within a

week his dredger had eaten its way through sawgrass, water and muck

from the headwaters of the Chokohatchee to Deer Key, digging a broad,

main drainage canal through the middle of Payne's thousand acres of

drowned land. Higgins' calculations proved themselves in practice, and

the big ditch soon drew off the bulk of the surface water on the track.

The work of cutting the small lateral canals progressed rapidly with

the smaller ditching machine. White worked his men in two shifts, and

kept his shovels at work day and night. He made no effort to conceal

the reason for his haste.

"I took the job, and I'll see it through," said he, "but outside of

collecting my money the best part of this job to me will be when I wind

it up and get out."

"Still," retorted Higgins, to whom the statement was made, "you don't

look exactly like a man troubled with cold feet."

But White would not permit himself to be drawn out.

"I'll be glad when I look back from my tug and see Gumbo Key behind me;

that's all I'm saying."

As the work progressed and it became apparent that the muck lands could

be sufficiently drained to be available for agricultural purposes,

Roger grew puzzled. There had been so far no opposition or

interference from Garman. Apparently he had been sincere in his

declaration that he wished to see Roger successful in the development

of the tract. Garman himself was not seen during the period that the

ditcher was at work, but the conduct of his employees made it obvious

that they had received orders to assist, not interfere with the

draining project. One day the proud Egret stopped to tow a disabled

supply boat up the river for White's crew. Another time two of

Garman's men came out and took the place of a pair of ditch workers who

were ill.

Why was Garman doing it? What was behind his apparent friendliness?

Roger gave up the puzzle. In fact, he had discovered that he was not

so vitally interested in his land project as he had thought himself to

be. He worked and saw that his men worked, and kept the job up to the

program he had outlined. And he tossed at night on his camp cot, his

mind tortured with other thoughts.

White completed his job, pocketed his check and chugged away down the

river.

Two days after his departure Roger and Higgins were measuring the

acreage cleared in the elder brush when one of the blacks said suddenly:

"Wha' dem man do ovah thah, Boss?"

Payne glanced out over the ditched sawgrass land whither the negro was

pointing and saw three men carefully picking their way along the spoil

banks beside the ditches.

Roger studied the group for a long time, then suddenly he dropped the

measuring line and strode toward them.

"Right," growled Higgins, doing likewise. "Those fellows aren't just

sightseeing by a darn sight."

Payne studied the men as he approached them. They were dressed in

tourist apparel, but their hard faces belied their clothes. Each

carried a cane, but the thick hands that held them would have appeared

more at home gripping a blackjack or a revolver. The largest of the

trio, a hard-faced man with thin lips, studiously placed himself across

Roger's path.

"Well," he said, with the snarl of the city tough in his tones, "what

can we do for you?"

Roger choked down the rage that lept for mastery in his breast and said

calmly:

"You can explain your insolence to begin with."

"Don't come that--don't try to come that on us, kid! You ain't dealing

with no crackers now. What do you want, huh?"

The hot blood flush passed from Roger; he felt himself growing

comfortably cool; and within he laughed silently.

"No," he said softly, "I can see that you aren't crackers. What jail

held you last?"

The stranger swore foully, a string of oaths that reeked with the

stench of corner saloons. He pushed his hat far back upon his round

head, looked Roger up and down contemptuously, and swore some more.

"Know who you're talking to?" he demanded. "Better get wise, you----"

Again he polluted the air with his foulness.

Roger waited until the stream of filth had ceased.

"Are you going to explain what you're doing here?" he asked.

"Am--I? Am I going to explain? Hell! Are you going to explain, you

mean."

"Yes," said Roger, and leaped forward.

Even Higgins whooped in surprise at the swiftness of the spring.

Before the stranger could move Roger was close to him. His right fist

swung from far behind caught the man full on the solar plexus,

literally lifted him off the spoil bank and knocked him into the water

of the ditch.

The other two strangers, heavy-jowled toughs, had sprung to meet Payne.

One Roger staggered with a left swing on the ear; the other grappled

his legs. This man Higgins rewarded with a kick which would have

shattered a thinner skull to bits. Then two separate fights raged up

and down the spoil bank. Instantly Roger and Higgins realized that

they had their hands full. Payne ran into a body punch which made him

realize that his opponent was nearly his equal. Higgins was knocked

down at once, bounding up like a rubber ball and cheering the man who

struck him.

"That was a peach, that one!" he roared, and returned the compliment.

The man rose, knocked Higgins down again and jumped on him.

"Rough and tumble it is!" cried Higgins, and grappled with bear-like

arms.

Roger refused to go into a clinch, meeting his antagonist's rushes with

straight lefts, and following with futile swings of his right. The

tough was too skilled to be caught with a solid blow. Once Roger

landed full on the jaw with what he expected to be a knockout and the

blow glanced harmlessly, as the man rolled his head back with the

trained pugilist's skill. Roger realized that it would be no short

fight, and he thought of the man he had knocked into the canal. The

fight had raged down the spoil bank, and he glanced around and saw the

leader clawing his way up the bank. The pause nearly proved fatal.

Roger's opponent leaped in and caught his head in chancery.

"Hand it to him!" screamed the tough to his partner in the ditch.

"Shoot him in the back!"

With a mighty lunge Roger flung himself and his opponent to the ground

as a pistol snapped viciously and a steel-jacketed bullet zipped over

his head.

"Look out, Hig!" he shouted. "Stay under your man."

"Turn 'im over!" The leader who had crawled upon the spoil bank fired

again and missed. "Can't yah turn him up so I can get a crack at 'im?"

Roger felt the tough beneath him exerting all his energy. Slowly,

surely he felt himself being turned. Then out from the sawgrass came

the roar of a rifle, and a heavy slug whined over the gunman's head.

Bang! Another shot. Then the voice of Blease, the squatter:

"Next shot, I'll hold a foot lower. Throw that gun in the ditch.

Throw it, you----" Bang! "That's right--Now get 'em boys, get 'em!"

Bare feet came drumming down the dirt of the spoil bank. A huge Bahama

black was in the lead of his fellows. He leaped like something wild,

his machete flashing in the sun. The gunman cried out and tumbled to

safety in the ditch. The black men came with a rush. The fight was

over. Panting, grinning, their teeth and eyeballs gleaming, the

negroes stood aside awaiting orders.

"I'll be darned," said Roger, puzzled. "Boys, how did you ever come

here?"

"Dat white man"--a grinning negro pointed to where Blease had fired

from the jungle--"he say he shoot us if we don' come."

Higgins had searched the two strangers and taken a revolver from each.

"All right, boys," said Roger. "You can get right back to work. The

show's over."

From the opposite sides of the canal Roger and the leader of the trio

glared at one another.

"Well," said Payne, "you tried to run a bluff and it didn't work.

What's the idea?"

The man swore again and replied:

"What's the idear, huh? That's what I want to know. You'll get yours

for this--coming on people's land and starting a roughhouse."

Roger stared stupidly across the canal at the speaker, incomprehension

taking the place of anger. "Oh," he said at last, "it's all a mistake.

You got on the wrong tract: this is my land."

"Like ---- it is!"

"What?"

"Don't try to come that on us; don't waste your breath. Think we're

dummies? This is our land. We bought it last week. And I'm telling

you to keep off of it from now on. Oh, I got the right description; a

thousand acres west of a line from Deer Key there to the Cypress Swamp.

Want to look at the deed? Give you our lawyer's address if you do."

"Who is your lawyer?"

"Big Tom Connors, Washington, D. C. And if it'll make you feel any

better--why, he's a law partner of Senator Fairclothe."

"If you think you have really bought this land," said Roger slowly,

"you have been cheated."

"Huh! Do we look like easy marks? Listen, boh: you're the fish that

got hooked. You bought a bum title. Get that? Didn't know this

little piece of dirt was in the courts, eh? Well, it was; and Big Tom

got it, and we got it from him. Your title ain't worth the paper it's

written on. Now, you're guilty of tresp----Hold on!"

Roger had thrown his self-control to the winds. He leaped into the

canal and wallowed across.

"Get off, my land!" he growled. "Get off!"

The gunman was running for dear life down the spoil bank. On the

opposite side his companions were in full flight. Payne did not

follow. He stood and watched them, outraged to the marrow. "And keep

off, too!" he shouted grimly. "Tell your lawyer, tell your sheriff,

tell 'em all, keep off!"