Cresswell and Taylor glanced at each other and the Colonel re-lit his cigar.
“How much of it?” he asked finally.
“I don’t know; I thought perhaps two hundred acres.”
“Two hundred acres? Do you expect to buy that land for five dollars an acre?”
“Oh, no, sir. I thought it might cost as much as twenty-five dollars.”
“But you’ve only got a thousand dollars.”
“Yes, sir; I thought I might pay that down and then pay the rest from the crops.”
“Who’s going to work on the place?”
Zora named a number of the steadiest tenants to whom she had spoken.
“They owe me a lot of money,” said the Colonel.
“We’d try to pay that, too.”
Colonel Cresswell considered. There was absolutely no risk. The cost of the land, the back debts of the tenants‚ÅÝ‚Äîno possible crops could pay for them. Then there was the chance of getting the swamp cleared for almost nothing.
“How’s the school getting on?” he asked suddenly.
“Very poorly,” answered Zora sadly. “You know it’s mortgaged, and Miss Smith has had to use the mortgage money for yearly expenses.”
The Colonel smiled grimly.