The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1905-01-06

Iue nat Oh his manu-. thorpe luTuSt
and faced him with a steely look in hi
level eyes.
"AIr. Morrison" he said, "you arr
quite right. The first man who pays
gets the land, but l have won the frs
chance to pay. You will kindly steI
one side until finish my business will
Mr.. Smithers here"
II suppose you have the amount &c
tually with you," said the clerk quite
respectfully, because if you have MOI
Mr.. Morrisons claim will take prece
dence"
Il would hardly have any business
in land Office if 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, n stranger,
with so large Il sum? 1t had been
madness. Only the blind confidence of
! the fighting man led him farther into
the struggle.
Thorpes descriptions We're contained
in the battered little notebook he had
carried with him in the woods. For
each piece of land first there came the
township described by latitude and
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 Of the township on
range 80 north, II west If Thorpe
I wished to purchase the whole section
that description would suffice. On the
other hand, if he wished to buy only
one forty he described its position in
the quarter section. Thus SW-NW
49-1T-S meant the southwest forty of
the northwest quarter of section 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 s." he made of it four
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.
He was not so 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 indgstriousy, repeating in
half voice each description as 1t was
transcribed
At length the task was finished. 1t
became necessary to type duplicate
lists of the descriptions. While the
gomnolent youth finished his task
Thorpe listened for the messenger boy
on the stairs.
4 faint slam was heard outside the
rickety old building. Hasty steps
sounded along the corridor. The land
locker merely stopped the drumming
of his fingers on the broad arm of the
chair The door flew open, and Wal
lace Carpenter walked quickly to him.
Thorpe's face lighted up rs he rose
to greet his partner The boy had not
forgotten their compact after all.
"Then its all right?" quericd the lat
ter brcathlessly.
sure answered Thorpe heartily.
Got cm in good shape"
At the same time he was drawing the
youth beyond the vigilant watchfulness
Of Mr.. Morrison.
you're just in time" he said in an
nndertone. "Nevcr had so close a
squeak. 1 suppose you have cash or a
certified check. That's all they'll take
aere."
"What do you mean?" asked Carpen-
ter blankly.
"Haven't you that money! returned
Thorpe quick as hawk.
"For heavens sake, isn't ii here?"
cried Wallace in CONSERVATION. IL
wired Duncan, my banker, here last
night and received reply from him
He answered that he'd see to 1t
Haven't you seen himY
"No," repeated Thorpe in his turn.
"What can we do?"
"Can you get your check certified
here near at handw
Eyes"
"Well, go do It. And get move or
you. You have precisely until that boy
there finishes ticking that machine-not
a second longer"
Cant you get them to wait a few
minutes?"
"Wallace," said Thorpe, edo you SEE
that white whiskered old lynx in the
corner? That's Morrison, the man who
wants to get our land. If / fail tC
plank down the cash the very instant Il
is demanded he gets his chance. And
he'll take it. Now go. Don't hurry un
til you get beyond the door, then fly"
4 oof H., n - L