FLORIDA : THE GULF COAST 165 



• 



to rent me a small house which stood near the 

 water, as well as a room in his warehouse for a 

 laboratory. He responded to this by asking how 

 much rent I had paid at Gigger's. Then he spoke 

 of a mythical owner whom he would have to 

 see. When my patience was about to give out, he 

 began a discourse much as follows. His utter- 

 ance was abrupt and direct, but slow and nasal, 

 the words pronounced in a drawling fashion and 

 the vowels flatted. 



"Scaat, I think ye a good man. I'm a man 

 o' peace ; an' I'm the honestest man in the world. 

 I'm a doctor of medicine and doctor of divinity, 

 and I'm a man o' peace. I think ye a good man. 

 Scaat, but I cain't tell. You all might be a drink- 

 in', gamblin', carousin', dancin' man, and I tell 

 ye, I'm a man o' peace. I'm a man o' peace, but 

 if ye trod on m' toes, I'd fight like a dawg." 

 All of which seemed to indicate that further 

 negotiations as to residence in that immediate 

 vicinity were out of the question. I therefore 

 announced to him that I would return to my boat, 

 thanked him for his consideration, told him I was 

 interested in his place, and thought I could have 

 achieved results that would have been good for 

 both of us, bade him good-by, and proceeded 

 out through the warehouse to the long wharf, 

 and at the end of it embarked and pushed off 

 to the schooner. I had intimated to the doctor 



