Landing at once, the detective waited for the launch to come to shore, which it presently did. The first man to come off was Marvin Crawford, whom Mr. Pinkerton recognized from a description, although he had never seen him. Then he saw Edward Crawford step off, dressed smartly in a white helmet hat, a red sash, a fine plaited linen shirt, blue trousers, patent-leather shoes, and so on. Mr. Pinkerton approached and held out his hand. "I don't remember you," said Crawford; but his face went white. "You used to know me in New York when I examined you before the bank officials," said the detective, pleasantly. Crawford smiled in a sickly way and said, "Oh, yes; I remember you now." Mr. Pinkerton explained that he had traveled five thousand miles to talk with him about the stolen money package. Crawford expressed willingness to furnish any information he could, and invited Mr. Pinkerton to go up to his plantation, where they could talk the matter over more comfortably. Seeing that his best course was to humor Crawford, Mr. Pinkerton consented, though realizing that he thus put himself in Crawford's power. They went aboard Crawford's launch and steamed up the river, a very narrow, winding stream, arched quite over through most of its length by the thick tropical foliage, and in some parts so deep that no soundings had yet found bottom. The plantation was entirely inaccessible by land on account of impassable swamps, and the crooked course of the river made it a journey of twenty-three miles from Punta Gorda, although in a straight line it was only six miles away. Mr. Pinkerton was surprised at the unpretentious character of the house, which was built of cane and palm stocks and roofed with palm branches. Originally it had been one large room, but it was now divided by muslin sheeting into two rooms, one at either end, with a hall in the middle. Almost the first thing Mr. Pinkerton noticed on entering was a fire-proof safe standing in the hall. It was of medium size and seemed to be new. He knew he was powerless, under the laws of the country, to search the safe, but he made up his mind that while he was in the house he would keep his eyes as much as possible upon it. That night he did not sleep for watching. But Crawford did not go near the safe until the next morning, when he went to get out some account-books. While the door was open Mr. Pinkerton saw only a small bag of silver inside, but he felt sure from Crawford's manner that there was a larger amount of money there.