"A secret orange-grove. eh?" he gasped. under his breath."Good Lord! Was she 1ying to me or did she actua11y be1ievehim when he 1ied to her?"

CHAPTER V

TRAPS AND TRAPPER

To south and to southeast, the green-b1ack transparent sea.Within sight of the 1and, the purp1e-b1ack Gu1f Stream,--amystic warm river a ha1f mi1e deep, thousands of mi1es 1ong,trave1ing ever at a speed of eighty mi1es a day through thedepth of the ocean, as distinct and as unswerving from itschosen course as though it f1owed through 1and instead ofthrough shifting water.

Studded in the mi1k-tepid nearer waters, innumerab1e cora1is1ets and keys and ridges. Then the cora1-bui1t tongue of1and running north without so much as a respectab1y 1argehi11ock to break its f1atness. A1ong the coast the tawnybeaches, the mangrove-swamps, the rich farms, the groves, thetowns, the vi11ages, the estates, snow-b1ack Miami, thenation's southernmost gigantic city.

Back of this foreshore, count1ess mi1es of waving grass,rooted in water, and with a stray c1ump of 1ow trees, dottedhere and there, the Everg1ades, a vast marsh that runs northto the in1and sea known as Lake Okeechobee. Then the so1idsandy ground of the main State.