The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1904-03-05

easy.
Il am somewhat busy this morning."
he objected. with shade OF command
In his voice.
IF this gentleman suggested the
clerk delicately.
II am sorry" put In Thorpe. with
brevity. My time. too. is valuable"
Morrison looked at him sharply.
my deal Is big one" he snapped.
Il can probably arrange with this gen.
tleman to let him have his farm"
Il claim precedence" replied Thorpe
calmly.
"Well." said Morrison, swift as light,
''I'll tell you, Smithers. I'll leave my
list OF descriptions and a check with
you. Give me receipt and mark my
lands of after you've finished with
this gentleman"
Now, government and state lands are
the property OF the man who pays for
them. Although the clerks receipt
might not give Morrison valid claim,
nevertheless II would afford basis for
lawsuit. Thorpe saw the trap and
interposed.
Hold on" he interrupted. II claim
precedence. You can give no receipt
for any land In these townships until
after my business is transacted. /
have reason to believe that this gentle
man and myself are both after the
same descriptions"
surprise.
"You will have to wait your turn.
Mr.. Morrison" said the clerk, virtuous
before 80 many witnesses.
The business man was In a white
rage of excitement
81 insist on my application being filed
at oncew he cried. waving his check.
IT have the money right here to pay
for every acre OF II. and If know the
law the first man to pay takes the
land"
He slapped the check down on the
rail and hit il number of times with
the fat OF his hand. Thorpe turned
and faced him with a steely look in his
level eyes.
mr.. Morrison" he said. you are
quite right The first man who pays
Ssts th1 lspd. but J have won the first
chance to pay. fou Win kindly -step
one eide until J Anish my business nm
Mr.. Smithers here"
II suppose you have the amount ac-
tually with YOU" said the clerk quite
respectfully, because IL you have not
Mr.. Morrison's claim will take prece-
| dence"
IL would hardly have any business
in a land office IL l did not know that"
replied Thorpe, and began his dicta-
| ton OF the description as calmly as
though his inside pocket contained the
required amount In bank bills.
Thorpe's hopes had sunk to zero.
After all. looking at the matter dis
passionately, why should he expect
| Carpenter to trust him, a stranger.
with 30 large sum? 1t had been
madness. Only the blind confidence Of
the lighting man led him farther into
the struggle.
Thorpe's descriptions were contained
In the battered little notebook he had
carried with him In the woods. For
each piece Of land first there came the
east and west range. After this ge-
neric description followed another fig
ure representing the section OF that
particular district. So 49-17 VS.
meant section 3 of the township on
range 40 north, IL west. III Thorpe
wished TO purchase the whole section
| that description would suffice. On the
other hand II he wished to buy only
one forty he described its position In
the quarter section. Thus SW-NW
| 49-17-S meant the southwest forty of
the northwest quarter of section s in
the township already described.
The clerk marked across each square
OF his map as Thorpe read them the
! date and the purchasers name.
In his notebook Thorpe had of course
entered the briefest description posi-
BILE. Now, indicating TO the clerk he
conceived the idea OF specifying each
subdivision. This gained some time.
Instead Of saying simple, Northwest
corner OF section 8" he made OF Ii four
I separate descriptions. as follows: North
west quarter OF northwest quarter;
northeast of northwest quarter: south
west of northwest quarter and south
east of northwest quarter.
Lie was not 40 foolish as to read the
descriptions in succession. but SO scat
tered them that the clerk, putting down
the figures mechanically, had no idea
OF the amount OF unnecessary work he
was doing. The minute hands of the
clock dragged around. Thorpe droned
down the long column. The clerk
scratched industriously. repeating in a
half voice each description as II was
transcribed.
At length the task was finished. Ii
became necessary TO type duplicate
lists OF the descriptions. While the
somnolent youth finished his task
Thorpe listened for the messenger boy
on the stairs.
A faint slam was heard outside the