CHAPTER III

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.