“Yes. This is how he happened to mention it,” went on Ned. “I was going past him on the street without speaking, though I was so surprised at seeing him that I wanted to ask where he came from. However, he saved me the trouble. He hailed me and, in that sneering way of his, he said he had something that was better than the gold mine in which we own shares. I didn’t ask him what it was, but he told me. Said he had bought a cocoanut grove or farm, or whatever they call ’em, and was going to get rich. He said he was going down in a week or so to live on the land and be a wealthy man.”
“Do you s’pose he meant it?” asked Bob. “I’m very fond of cocoanut pie.”
“Go ahead,” remarked Jerry with a laugh. “You’ve got Chunky interested, Ned, as soon as you mention something good to eat.”
“I guess Noddy was in earnest all right,” went on Ned. “He insisted on showing me a lot of papers. It appears he bought the land through seeing an advertisement in a magazine. You pay so much down and so much a month, and the advertisement says you can make enough raising cocoanuts to meet all your monthly installments. Noddy said he had secured a big tract down there.”
“From his father, I s’pose. Mr. Nixon is rich, and Noddy is the only child. That’s what makes him spoiled.”
“When’s he going down to the land of the everglades?” inquired Jerry.
“In what part of Florida is his cocoanut plantation located?” asked Bob.
“I’d like to go to Florida,” observed Bob. “It’s a nice place to read about. Lovely climate, nothing to do but gather oranges, bananas and cocoanuts, watch the manatees and turtles, lie in the shade and--and--”
“Get eaten up with sand fleas,” put in Jerry. “They have ’em down there as big as sparrows.”
“I guess if we’re going anywhere we’d better be starting for school!” exclaimed Ned. “It’s after nine o’clock.”
The three chums left Bob’s house and strolled along the street in the direction of the academy they attended. Ned continued his recital of his encounter with Noddy, the town bully who, on more than one occasion, had proved himself the enemy of the three friends.
“Oh, he talked a lot about how rich he was going to be,” went on Ned. “He thinks his cocoanut grove is going to put our gold mine in the shade. Says he’ll buy us out in a few months. He was so excited that I guess he forgot all about how he acted down at Harmon Beach last summer until I asked him if he calculated to wreck any steamers on the Florida coast. That made him mad and we had quite a discussion. That’s what ruffled me up. I left him spouting about what he expected to do with his cocoanuts.”