“Reckon not.  It’s bin tried.  I’ll tell yer jist how ’twas.  I killed a man.  He worried me ’nd threatened me ’nd tried ter kill me with a knife, ‘f I’d shot him then, nobody’d said nuthin’, but I waited ’nd then I got scared, thot he’d kill me, ’nd one day I shot him.  I was put in th’ pen, then I was sent t’ the chain gang ‘nd set t’ boxin’ trees f’r turpentine.  Saw a man flogged day I got thar.  Sed I’d never git whipped if work would save me.  I was the strongest man in the gang.  Boxed more trees ‘n anybody.  More I did, more I had t’.  I don’t say I was whipped.  If I was I didn’t deserve it.  If I was ’nd ever see th’ man that did it I’ll kill him.  Know how turpentine gangs is guarded?  Boy sits up on platform with rifle ’nd gives orders.  S’pose yer sassy to him or he just wants fun with yer.  When Cap—­that’s th’ man that whips—­comes ’long, boy sez feller’s bin shirkin’.  Then feller’s tied t’ tree ’nd Cap beats him till feller begs t’ be killed.  I don’t want t’ hurt anybody ’cept one feller, but I ain’t goin’ back t’ no chain gang.  If the sheriff holds me up, ’nd sez ‘Come back or I’ll shoot,’ I’ll say ‘Shoot!’”

The boys were very silent after the outlaw’s story and when he left them they shook hands warmly with him and asked what they could do for him; ammunition, food, clothing, money, anything they had was at his service.

“Don’t want nuthin’.  You’ve give me more’n you’ll ever know,” said the outlaw gruffly.

But the gruffness was a bit tremulous and there were tears in the man’s voice.

The outlaw got in the way of spending his evenings with the young explorers and Ned pumped him dry of his knowledge of the Everglades, the Big Cypress and the lesser swamps of South Florida.  He made charts from lines traced in the dirt to show rivers, bays, prairie land and swamps.  Ned learned of hidden creeks that connected waters thought to be completely separated by land and of others that could be connected by a short carry.

CHAPTER XV

DICK AND THE BEAR

Dick wanted a bear and the outlaw showed him a near-by swamp where several of the creatures lived.  Day after day Dick waded, wandered and watched in that swamp with the rifle, while Ned tramped in another direction carrying the shotgun, making maps of the country, and picking up occasionally a duck or Indian hen for dinner.  Sometimes Dick got sight of a bear, but Bruin was shy and kept well out of range.  One day, while sitting in some thick woods, hoping that a bear would wander near him, Dick heard a loud tearing sound that seemed to come from the top of a little group of young palmettos.  He crept as slowly and silently as possible near the trees and saw a bear sitting in the top of a palmetto, tearing away the outer husk of the bud of the tree which is the cabbage of the Cracker and often serves as his bread.  While Dick was creeping nearer to get