*'WHAT WILL IT COST?" 119 



There did seem to be some sense in this argument ; so, as 

 our stranger's contemplated purchase was not concluded, 

 he went with neighbor A, who "did n't want to be onneigh- 

 borly though," to view a "passel of hammock of his own." 



The stranger approved of the tract, and had almost de- 

 cided in its favor, when neighbor B met him. 



" Stranger," quoth he, "I hear you're bound to take A's 

 bit of sour swash." 



"Sour swash?" 



" Jes so ! I don't want to make no trouble fer a neigh- 

 bor, but it's easy to see that bit of land 's sour swash as 'ud 

 pizen a 'gator ! It's hammock, sure enough, but it ud take 

 a fortun' to dreen it fer any use. Now, there's a bit of 

 pine land, high and dry, that's just the thing you want ; 

 easy to clear and no dreenin'." 



Had he, B, any of this vaunted high pine for sale ? 



"Well, yes, he had; and if the stranger wanted — he 

 didn't like to be onneighborly ; but if he must, why he 

 must." 



So the perplexed stranger looked at this pine land, and 

 really liked it better than any he had seen yet ; he was 

 glad he had looked further. This land was all right, that 

 was certain. 



Then along came neighbor C, a better educated man than 

 the others, capable of forming an opinion and giving a 

 reason for it. 



"Don't take that pine land," he advised. "There is 

 hard-pan and clay under it ; hard-pan kills the trees, and 

 clay is cold ; the worst of it is, you never can tell till your 

 grove is old enough to bear, then the roots reach the hard- 

 pan or clay, and the trees just die, no help for them, and 

 there you are, money and years all gone for nothing ! " 



Neighbor C (of course) had just the right kind of land 

 to sell; but neighbor D quietly cautioned the stranger 



