ined me, for my
benefit, but I could prove that the explanation of the presence of the
snake there was without any foundation in truth. Griffin Leeds had
discovered by listening to the conversation of the mate and myself,
that we were investigating the matter, and had a clue to Cobbington.
Then Cornwood had sent a note to the saloon-keeper to this effect, and
Captain Boomsby had bribed the invalid with a dollar to lie about the
matter.

While I was reasonably certain in regard to such portions of the chain
of the story as I had been compelled to supply, I could not prove all I
believed. On the other hand, Cornwood was an exceedingly valuable
person to me as guide and pilot, and I was unwilling to dispense with
his services until he showed the cloven foot too palpably to be
retained.

The Sylvania was approaching Orange Park, a place which Colonel Shepard
desired to visit. A sign four hundred feet long, and fifteen feet high,
the largest in the world, indicates the locality. It can be read a mile
off, and the visitor "who runs may read." Cornwood ran the steamer
alongside the long pier, and our passengers landed. Mr. Benedict, the
enterprising Rhode Islander who owns the vast estate of nine thousand
acres, was on the wharf to welcome them. The place had formerly been an
immense sugar plantation; but the present owner had cut it up into
small farms and town lots, and considerable progress had been made in
peopling it with residents from the North.

The bluffs were thirty feet high on the river, and the highest
elevation was seventy feet, about the highest on the St. Johns. Quite a
number of dwelling-houses had been erected, including a hotel, and the
place had a store, a school, and a hall for religious services. Several
thousand orange-trees had been set out, and were in a thrifty
condition. They set out stumps of sour orange-trees, three inches in
diameter, and graft into them two shoots, a few inches above the
ground. These had grown two or three feet in a single year, and in five
or six years they would be in bearing condition. Young trees, five or
six feet high, are also set out. If the orange grower is successful,
the crop is exceedingly profitable.

Lots of from one to twenty acres were sold at from one to thirteen
hundred dollars, as they were nearer or farther from the river. A house
that would answer the purpose of a settler could be built for one
hundred and thirty dollars, and a comfortable cottage for fi