udy tail of the bird, and a few steps toward it revealed a
circular bathing pool in the heart of the thicket. Large mats of
colored straw, thick rugs and cushions, all brilliantly hued, lay
scattered about on the pink-tinted concrete edges of the pool. A
wicker _chaise longue_ stood beneath a striped canopy of silk under a
shelter of moon vine; other lounging chairs were scattered about. The
water of the pool flowed, fresh and clear, from the wine skin of a
bronze bacchante, hideously squat and fat and green with age, which
with drunken eyes in a back-thrown head leered mysteriously down upon
the water. And the atmosphere of the place was akin to that of a
heavily scented boudoir.

Higgins was examining the daintily colored concrete with professional
interest.

"That's darn fine work. See how those mosaics and tiles are set in.
That's Italian work; we don't finish stuff as well as that in this
country. Yes, sir; some rich gazaboo has spent a barrel of money
bringing Dago workmen down here to make him a little swimming hole in
the jungle."

"It fits in with the whole scheme--the jungle, flowers, birds and
scents, doesn't it?"

"A sultan could wish for nothing better."

"Come on."

Though the air was heavy out in the bridle path, it compared to the
shut-in pool like a breath from out-of-doors. Payne led the way
hurriedly. The path curved slightly in the direction of the river.
The light of a large opening appeared ahead, and presently they came
abruptly upon a clearing. A large low building, Moorish in
architecture and tinted like the concrete of the pool, dominated the
scene. Beyond glistened the blue water of the tiny lake which was the
headwaters of the Chokohatchee River. At a canopied boat landing lay
moored a gleaming white yacht--the Egret.

IX

"This," said Payne, "is where the Paradise Gardens Colony should be by
all maps and reports."

"But it isn't," said Higgins. "It's where some gazaboo with a pot of
money and a taste for oriental effects camps out. I'm wondering if
there is such a thing as that much advertised colony."

"I'm going to find out."

"Look out! There comes a ferocious animal to chew you up!"

A white poodle of tiny size with a bark like a piping bird came bobbing
out of the house.

"Here, Nero!" called Higgins.

And then the dark slender woman who had been on the Egret stepped out
from behind a palm.

"Flossy!" she said with a stamp of the foot, which twi