Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1891-11-12

'DuJ yer KAN . StB lilCr contract With
out my presence, Nancy" Hamlet said
despondently. 81 know tibet pint o ther
land law"
mo, pap, but | kin see Their land agent
an tell him erbout Hines. An of yer
willin' kin take Their money yer've been
savin' ter build cr house an pay down
on Their claim. Then we'll shore be ahead
o. ole Hines"
Hamlet saw it would be utterly use
less for him to raise any more objections.
Nancy was determined to go to Baxter
that night to outwit Dick Hines, and it
would require moro than his spent
strength to induce her to give m tho
mission.
About eleven o'clock tho brave girl
mounted her pony and rode away from
the dugout. knottcl in one corner of q
handkerchief were two hundred dollars,
which Hamlet had given her to pay down
on the claim. That represented his en-
tire cash account, and mad been saved
for another purpose that fall, but he
yielded it up gladly to Nancy's cara, be-
lieving with her that it would be better
invested in securing a contract for tho
land
She would have to ride about eight
miles across the unbrokcn prairie before
she reached the "Oid Mission" road, as
it was called. That gained, she would
have Il straight, well travelled way to
Baxter Springs, near the southern border
Of the county.
The tract of land known rs the Neutral
Lands comprised about eight hundred
thousand acres Of fertile prairie, located
il the southeastern part Of the state.
1t had been owned By the Cherokee
Indians, who had ccdcd it in trust to the
United States about the close of the war
Of secession. The secretary of the in
terror was the agent Of the Indians to
sell the land.
After considerable wrangling over the
disposal of the land in parcels, as the
agent had been authorized to do the en-
tire body was purchased by James T.
Joy, Of Michigan, who became owner Of
the Neutral Lands soon after the arrival
Of the Hamlet family, in 1-G@.
Tho families or settlers who had been
located on the Neutral Land, before JOY
had purchased them declared the whole
business to be a vast swindle, they min
tanning a perfect right to take claims
there under the presumption or home
stead acts.
Excitement r1n high on those wild
prumes, and the anti-Joy settlers organ.
lied leagues, and pledged themselves to
resist the claims Of the purchaser to the
death If 1t became necessary.
The settlers We're deceived by the falsa
rumors OF evil agit.toTs, who had moth
ing to do but ride from one cabin to an
other, keeping strife SO stirred up that
the true situation Cf the matter was
yelled from their understanding.
a league WAS formed near Hamlet's
claim, and though he had been invited
and even urged to join it he took q posi-
ton Of neutrality. He had faith that
congress would adjust the trouble salts
factorily, and went ON making such rude
improvements as he wasable on his quar-
ter section, content to await the final de-
cision Of that body.
Nancy Hamlet urged her pony for
ward across the lonely prairie There
was no moon. but the bright stars which
shone in the dark blue vault above her
enabled her to keep the proper course.
Alone in the deep darkness of mid
night, out on the prairie, the girls heart
felt a sense Of dosolaHoA and awe that
was almost past cnlGring. silence
brooded somb'rly everywhere, broken
occasionally when her pony frightened