Feeling comparatively wealthy, and with the prospect of, perhaps, weeks of idleness before them, if they remained where they were, the boys concluded to remove to their new possession.
Provisions enough to last two months were purchased, and with these, and with a miscellaneous collection of kettles, axes, and other tools, the boys set out.
Although the load was packed and strapped to their backs in the most convenient manner, it took two days to complete their journey.
The third was spent in making a camp and looking up the stubs which marked the boundaries of their twenty acres.
Like most of the high pine land in Florida, their tract was free from palmetto, and consequently much easier to clear than the low pine they had previously been at work upon.
Four weeks passed, and they had heard nothing from the surveying party.
Nearly three acres were cleared, and the boys were already calculating how many orange and lemon trees they would put out.
One morning, as Tom was digging a hole under the roots of a lofty pine, preparatory to setting it on fire, he was greeted with a surprised:
“Why, boys! What are you doing here?”
And he looked up to meet the keen eyes of the doctor.