He was a sturdy-looking little man, with a square, honest face, and an upright manner, to put it so. He seemed to be a Swede. His companion had something the look of Mr. Heep, and he wore a cap.
"Yes, sir, Will," said his companion, "I'd like to see you own that piece of property. I would. If you owned that piece of property, Will, then you see you'd have something. You'd have something, Will. Something you could always call your own, Will."
"Do you think it's good land?" said Will.
"Oh, yes," said his companion; "that's a very fine piece of land, Will. I know every bit of it. I've worked up there, Will."
"Rocky?" asked Will.
"Oh, no, Will; there's hardly a rock on it."
"How far now does it come down this way?" inquired Will musingly.
"Down the hill, Will?" asked his companion, with great attention.
"Yes," said Will.
"Well, now as to that," said the other, casting his face upward in thought, "I couldn't just exactly say."
"Down to the oak tree, don't it?" said Will.
"That's right, Will!" exclaimed the other, in delighted recognition of the fact. "Down to the oak tree, Will. You're right, Will."
"And how far would you say," asked Will thoughtfully, "does it run back in?"
"Run back in, Will?" said the other as though in surprise. "Well, now you know, Will," shaking his head in doubt, "it's been some time since I was up there, Will."
"It goes back as far as the big rock, don't you think?" said Will, thinking hard.
"Back to the big rock, Will!" cried the other eagerly. "That's right, Will. You're right! Back to the big rock, Will!"
"What's the name of those people who own the land just this way?" Will asked, looking hard into his mind.
"Well, now, Will, I can't just bring to mind the name of those people," answered the other, looking equally hard, apparently, into his own mind.
"Smithers, ain't it?" said Will, gropingly.
"Smithers is the name!" ejaculated the other. "You're right, Will! That's it! Smithers! You're right, Will! Nice people, too, Will!"
"Well, I don't think though that I'll get that land, after all," said Will, in the manner of a man who has at length arrived at a decision.
"Well, of course, Will," said his companion, nodding his head up and down, "property is a great care. I don't know that you're not right, Will. Property's a great care, Will; you're right about that, Will. You can do better, Will. You're right about that!"
[The end]
Robert Cortes Holliday's essay: Friend, Indeed