ammond. "I guess they won't
be much worse than the usual run. Now let's talk business," and the two
men walked off to one side.

"Oh, I forgot," called the contractor. "Young ladies, my wife is up in
that cabin," and he pointed to the one he had just left. "She'll be glad
to see you and make you a cup of tea. Sue!" he called, "take care of Mr.
Stonington's girls!" and a woman appearing in the doorway waved a
friendly greeting to the chums.

Over the teacups, in a cleaner and neater cabin than one would suspect
it to be from a glance at the outside, the girls told of their trip.
Mrs. Belton said her husband had told her of their predicament on the
sand bar.

"How do you like it in Florida?" she asked, after a pause.

"I'd like it better if I could find my brother," said Grace. "He's
here--lost--in some turpentine swamp, we are afraid. I wonder if Mr.
Belton could give us any information, since he is in the labor
contracting business?"

"You can ask him when he comes back," said his wife.

"And if we can get any trace of Will we'll go there and get him out of
the clutches of those men," went on Grace.

Mrs. Belton started from her chair.

"Don't you do it, honey! Don't you do it!" she exclaimed earnestly.
"Keep away from the turpentine camps whatever you do. There's a
desperate lot of men there--convicts a lot of 'em, and there's worse men
guarding 'em. Keep away if you know what is good for you," and she
looked earnestly at Grace, who paled as she thought of poor Will.

CHAPTER XIII

A STRANGE TOW

Betty, as well as Grace, Mollie and Amy, seemed much taken aback by the
earnest words of Mrs. Belton. The wife of the labor contractor seemed
under stress of some excitement, as she faced the girls after the
warning.

"Don't go!" she went on. "Don't any of you think of going! I used to
think my husband dealt with a rough enough class of men, but those in
the interior--in the turpentine camps, and cypress swamps--oh, they are
the most lawless element you can imagine. And no wonder, for no men,
unless they are compelled, will work with those contractors. They have
to keep their men just like prisoners."

"Oh, dear, don't tell me any more!" begged Grace, her eyes filling with
tears as she thought of her brother.

"But perhaps Will isn't treated as the others are," suggested Betty,
giving the woman a look she understood. "He went there under different
circumstances than the others, and he may receive con