I said.

We went over the way to Lyman's restaurant with him, and I ordered a
sirloin steak and fried potatoes for him, with other food. When it
came, he devoured it like a starving man. Whatever other lies he had
told, it was the truth that he was very hungry.

"That is the best meal I have eaten since I came into Florida," said he
with emphasis, when he had drained his coffee-cup. "Gentlemen, I am
more than grateful to you. I have struggled hard to keep my soul and
body together, and I've done it so far, though there isn't much left of
my body. I could live here, if I could earn enough to live on. You have
been kind to me; and now I'm going to tell you something: I have no
moccasin-snake, and I never had one, say nothing of two. I know I'm a
liar; but I told that lie for a dollar Boomsby gave me for telling it,
so that I need not be turned out of my room. If I had that Judas
dollar, I would send it back to Boomsby, and die with a clean
conscience."

"It never pays to do wrong," I added, deeply moved by the invalid's
story.

"I told Gavett I had no snake; but he turned me out, all the same. I
showed him everything I had; and he could find no box for the snake:
only a lot of baby alligators, that won't hurt anybody. I make a
quarter now and then by selling them to the children at the hotels. I
had to sell my gun I used to shoot alligators with for their teeth; my
best clothes are pawned; and my trunk is about as empty as my stomach
was half an hour ago. I have got about to the end of my rope; and I
don't know what will become of me."

"We will see what we can do for you, Mr. Cobbington," I added. "What
was your business at home?"

"I have done almost everything. I was brought up on a farm, and had a
pretty good education. My father and mother both died, and my brother
followed them, all in consumption. I went to teaching school, for we
lost the farm, and I had to take care of myself before I was twenty. My
health gave out, and I tried to work on a farm, but I wasn't strong
enough. Then I went to tending table at a summer hotel, and saved about
a hundred dollars. A man told me I should get well if I came to
Florida. I thought I could make my living here, and I came. I brought a
gun with me, and went into the woods. I shot deer, wild turkeys, and
alligators. I sold the game and the teeth, and got along pretty well in
the winter. Last summer I spent all the money I had left in coming down
here. My health was pretty