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.

"Clearing up our new purchase," answered Tom, quietly.

The doctor's shrewd face broadened into a smile.

"I see," he said, pleasantly. "But how much are we to pay you boys for
outwitting us? I saw Pylant yesterday, and was told that you had the
land. The old man was nearly crazy, when one of us said we would be
willing to go as high as twenty dollars an acre."

"I reckon we don't care to sell at present," said Dave. "Our twenty
acres wouldn't make much difference to you, who own as many thousand
around the lakes."

The doctor and his friends laughed good-humoredly.

"That's right, boys," said the one called professor; "hold the land for
an advance. It will come sooner than you expect, perhaps. But we shall
want your services for the next three months, to help our surveyors; so
be at our camp in the morning."

After this the boys could not complain of loneliness. A few weeks of
surveying outlined the streets and blocks of the new town; a sawmill was
quickly under way; buildings went up rapidly, and here and there were
displayed the new goods of enterprising young merchants.

The fame of the new town spread through the surrounding country, and
every day brought new arrivals, seeking work; and soon hundreds of axes
could be heard on the hillside, clearing the land and making ready for
the numerous young groves to be put out in the spring.

Dave and Tom had all the work they could do, and utilized the evenings
and odd moments in burning the trees and stumps on their land. By the
first of February they had five acres cleared and fenced, and ready for
trees.

Believing the best to be the cheapest, they sent to one of the nurseries
for three hundred and fifty budded trees. They took especial pains in
setting them out, and in due time had as thrifty a young grove as one
could wish to see.

The trees cost them all the money they had earned and most of what they
had laid aside; but when they