The girls looked at one another on hearing Mr. Hammond\'s warning. The same thought was in the mind of each.

"What—what kind of suspicious characters were they?" asked Betty.

"Oh, just the usual kind," replied the overseer. "I don\'t want to alarm you, and you needn\'t be afraid. They\'re mostly a cowardly set that always congregate around where a lot of work is going on, hoping to get money without labor, either by some form of chance game, or by deliberately taking advantage of some of the simple-minded colored hands. I ordered these two away a couple of times, and I\'ll do more than that the next time I see \'em."

"Did they—did they come in a motor boat?" faltered Mollie.

"I didn\'t notice. But they weren\'t the kind of fellows I want hanging around here, especially when pay-day comes. But don\'t think any[140] more of what I said. I\'m going to give you a young fellow to accompany you. He knows the river and the region around like a book, and anyone who tries to bother you when you\'re out he\'ll make short work of. He\'s a sort of deputy constable."

"Why do you think—I mean, in what way do you think anyone might try to bother us?" asked Betty.

"Oh, various ways. They might try to sell you a lot of useless trinkets, knowing you\'re from the North. Fancy shells, sea beans, curios and the like of that. You see, there isn\'t much ready money floating around among the poor people here. Even some of the scattered Seminoles—or what were once Seminole Indians—try to make a living selling trinkets they make themselves, and if they thought you had money they would become annoying. But Tom Osborne will see to \'em, all right. He knows a lot of \'em. When are you going?"

"Oh, in about an hour," answered Grace. "We\'re going to take our lunch and stay all day."

"That will suit Tom fine. He\'s very fond of—lunch!" and Mr. Hammond laughed.

"Doesn\'t he like—girls?" asked Mollie, with a blush.

"You can tell that better than I after you\'ve[141] met him. He\'s one of my bookkeepers, and a fine young fellow. I\'ll send him along to you."

"But maybe we ought not to take him from his work," suggested Betty, feeling that perhaps Mr. Stonington would not like the operation of his orange business interfered with by the pleasure of herself and her friends.

"Oh, I\'ll make it all right with uncle," laughed Amy. "We must enjoy ourselves while we\'re here."

"You needn\'t worry," spoke Mr. Hammond with a laugh. "Tom will be glad to come, and the worst of the rush is over now. Just consider him your escort, and he\'ll do anything you want, from catching an alligator to getting your meals. He\'s a handy young fellow, Tom is, and he knows all the streams about here."

While the overseer was gone to summon the young man, the girls prepared for the little outing. They had put up a lunch, or, rather, Aunt Hannah, the genial colored "mammy" had done it for them, putting in plenty of fried chicken and corn bread.

"Perhaps we\'d better have more," suggested Mollie, to Aunt Hannah, when the fact of Tom Osborne going along was mentioned.

"Bress yo\' he\'at, honey!" exclaimed the buxom cook, "I done put in enough fo\' two mo\'[142] gen\'men if yo\'all would laik t\' take \'em along. Don\'t yo\'all worry!"

"No, I think one young man will be sufficient," laughed Betty. "Only I didn\'t want him to go hungry, and I know the appetites of my friends."

"Speak for yourself, if you please!" chided Mollie. "You eat as much as any of us."

"I wonder if those two suspicious characters Mr. Hammond spoke of could be the ones who followed us in the boat?" asked Amy, to change the subject.

"They could have been," remarked Grace, "but I wouldn\'t want to think so."

"Why not?" asked Mollie.

"Because it would show that they were still following us."

"Perhaps it was unwise that I told them where we were from," said Betty, "but I did it for the best. I didn\'t want them to think that we had no friends near at hand."

&............