CHAPTER XVII

INTO A STRANGE LAKE

Whether Noddy or the three chums were the more surprised it would be hard to say. Though they had a vague idea they might come across the Cresville bully in Florida, the motor boys did not give it serious consideration, hardly believing Noddy’s story about the cocoanut grove. As for Noddy he had no intimation that the boys were coming to Florida and his astonishment, at suddenly seeing them, was very great. His first remark was characteristic of him.

“Are you fellows sneaking after me to try and cheat me out of my grove?” he asked.

“Not much!” ejaculated Jerry. “We didn’t know you were here.”

“I don’t believe you!” retorted Noddy angrily. “You’re always trying to do me some injury. Anyhow this man has possession of my cocoanut grove, that I paid my money for, and I’m going to have it.”

“How do you know this isn’t your grove?” asked the man with a smile, indicating the swamp land.

“Because the magazine advertisement that I answered said all the groves the company sold were on high ground. I followed the directions in reaching this place and this is the only grove on high ground around here. So it must be mine.”

“That’s your way of looking at it,” replied the man. “But it doesn’t happen to be the right one. My name is Carter. If you make some inquiries in the village you will find that I have owned this grove for the last twenty years, and that my father owned it before me.”

“I don’t believe you!” snapped Noddy. “It’s a plot to cheat me out of my money.”

“Look here!” exclaimed Mr. Carter. “If I didn’t think you were so young and foolish that you didn’t know any better I’d make you apologize for that. As it is I’m not going to take any notice of you. Are these young friends of yours? If they are I’d advise them to take you away before you get into trouble with that temper of yours, and the unpleasant way you have of using your tongue.”

“We know him,” Jerry hastened to say, motioning toward Noddy. “I can’t say we’re friends of his, nor is he of us. But as we come from the same town we’d be glad to do what we can for him, though he has done us several mean turns.”

“I don’t want any of your help!” exclaimed Noddy. “You can mind your own business, Jerry Hopkins, and you too, Bob and Ned. I can get along without you. I’m going to get possession of my cocoanut grove and I’ll have this man arrested for keeping it!”

“You’re talking foolishly,” interposed Mr. Carter.

“I’ll sue you!” retorted the Cresville bully. “I tell you I paid a deposit on this grove and I’m going to have it.”

“I’m sorry for you, but I think you have been cheated,” went on Mr. Carter. “I know that company which pretended to sell you this land. It is a swindling concern. A number of persons have been fooled into buying land here and when they came to take possession of it they found it was a swamp. But you are the first one who tried to lay claim to my land,” he added, with a grin.

“You’ll find this no laughing matter!” cried Noddy, his anger getting the best of him. “I tell you I’m going to have my rights. I’ll see a lawyer.”

“Then you’d better start now,” said Mr. Carter. “There isn’t any in this village, and the nearest one is twenty miles away. We don’t have much use for lawyers down here.”

“I’ll go right away!” cried Noddy. “I’ll have my rights, I tell you!”

“Maybe your acquaintances will take you to a lawyer,” went on Mr. Carter, who seemed anxious to bring Noddy to his senses. “Any one will tell you that you have been swindled.”

“I’ll go alone and find some one to take up my case,” exclaimed the Cresville youth. “I don’t want any help from Jerry Hopkins or any of his gang, either.”

“We’re not a gang!” objected Bob. “If you say that again, Noddy Nixon, I’ll--”

“Go easy,” whispered Jerry to his chum. “Let him alone.”

“You’ll suffer for this!” ejaculated Noddy, glowering at Mr. Carter. “I’ll have the law on you! My father is a rich man and he’ll help me get my rights. I’ll have you arrested for stealing my cocoanut grove!”

“There! You’ve said enough!” responded the man. “I’ll not take any more of your insults! You’re on my land and I order you off. What’s more, if you threaten me again I’ll tie you up and take you before a justice of the peace! Now move on!”

Mr. Carter looked so angry, and so much in earnest, that, big bully as he was, Noddy was frightened. He muttered something below his breath but he moved off Mr. Carter’s land, and on to the edge of the swamp which constituted the “cocoanut grove” of which he had boasted.

“Come on, boys,” said Jerry in a low voice. “If we stay here we may get involved in some trouble with Noddy. He doesn’t want our aid, and I’m glad of it. I’d hate to take him into our boat. Let’s leave him alone.”

They started away.

“I’ll fix you for following me!” exclaimed Noddy as he saw the three chums leaving him. “I’ll get even with you!”

“I hope he comes to his senses soon,” remarked Mr. Carter, as he walked toward the village with the three chums. “He is very hot tempered. He arrived in town a few days ago and created quite a stir by talking about the big cocoanut grove he had come to claim. When he found out that it was only a swamp that the swindlers had worked off on him he wanted to get my land, saying a mistake had been made. For several days he’s been seeking to lay claim to my grove, one of the few near here, until I got tired of his foolishness. Do you know much about him?”

Jerry told Mr. Carter enough of Noddy to make that gentleman understand what sort of a youth the Cresville bully was. Mr. Carter said he was sorry for him, but that he could not afford to give up his land because Noddy had been fooled.

Learning that the chums were in no particular hurry, Mr. Carter invited them up to his house. He gave them a lunch and brought out some fresh cocoanuts, in a green state, which is when they are at their best for eating. He called one of his negro helpers and told him to open some of the nuts for the boys.

The negro set up in the ground a stake, sharpened on the end. Then, holding the nut, encased in its husky fibrous covering in both hands, he brought it down on the point of the stick with a slanting motion. The sharp point cut through the husk in an instant and the nut was exposed. Then the end was chopped off with a big knife and the interior, consisting of “milk” and soft pulp, was ready to eat.

“I never knew cocoanuts were so good!” exclaimed Bob, as he tackled his fourth one, for they did not eat the rind or hard white part.

“No, nor no one else does who gets only the ripe ones which are shipped north,” explained Mr. Carter. “We never think of eating anything but the milk and soft pulp of the partly ripe ones.”

Presently the boys bade their host good-bye and started for the village store where they had left the professor catching bugs.

“There!” exclaimed Jerry, when they were almost at the place. “We forgot something.”

“What?” asked Ned.

“We didn’t give Noddy the message the man gave us. We didn’t tell him the government detective wanted to see him.”

“Let’s go back,” suggested Bob.

“I believe you’re thinking more of the cocoanuts than you are of Noddy,” interposed Jerry. “No, I guess it will keep. Noddy will either go back home, in which case the detective can see him himself, or he will stay here and try to get a grove from some one. If he does the latter we’ll stop on our way back and give him the message.”

Jerry’s chums thought this the best plan, so they kept on, dismissing from their minds the thought of Noddy and his trouble. They found the professor in his element, catching bug after bug, to the no small amusement of the crowd of natives that had gathered to watch him.

The supplies were soon put aboard the boat, and once more the travelers took up their voyage. For three days they traveled slowly the length of Lake Okeechobee. At times they kept near shore, attracted by the beauty of the scenery, for there were tall palm and palmetto trees, gracefully festooned with long streamers of Spanish moss. There was a wealth of tropical vegetation, and amid the dense forests there flew flocks of birds of the most brilliant plumage.

Now and then they saw big snakes, and they passed several alligators without at first knowing what the saurians were, as they looked so much like floating logs of wood. When they did discover that the “logs” were alive the boys tried several shots at them but without success.

They camped on shore one night but the mosquitoes and fleas were so bad that thereafter they stayed on the boat until out of that district. They caught several fine messes of fish and had a glorious time. At the close of the fourth day they approached the end of the lake. By reference to the map they discovered that they were near to the land of the everglades, those trackless patches of dense swamp, lonely and dangerous, inhabited only by negroes and Indians.

“We ought to see signs of my prize butterfly soon,” remarked the professor as the boat was speeding along. “I hope I shall soon capture a specimen.”

“There’s some kind of a butterfly!” exclaimed Bob, pointing ahead to where a brilliantly-colored insect was flying over the water.

“Quick!” cried the professor. “Speed up the boat, Jerry. It looks like one!”

The craft was put after the butterfly which was winging its way toward shore. As the _Dartaway_ advanced the boys noticed that they were entering a narrow part of the lake. The width of water quickly decreased until they were in what corresponded to a river.

“This is queer,” said Jerry. “The map doesn’t show any place like this.”

“Keep on!” cried the scientist, anxious only about the butterfly.

The insect led them a long chase. Straight ahead it flew, and, as the travelers went on they found themselves between two closely wooded banks.

“We’ve left Lake Okeechobee behind!” exclaimed Ned.

Hardly had he spoken ere the view changed. They rounded a point of land and came out on a broad sheet of dark green water.

“It’s another lake!” exclaimed Jerry. “It must be a strange one, as there is nothing in the guide book about it, or on the map. Boys, maybe we’ve discovered a new lake!”

“It’s big enough!” remarked Ned, as he pointed to the distant shore that marked the boundary.

“Yes, and it’s full of alligators!” cried Bob, indicating several long black objects floating in the placid water.