for every acre of it; and if
I know the law, the first man to pay takes the land."

He slapped the check down on the rail, and hit it a number of times with
the flat of his hand. Thorpe turned and faced him with a steel look in
his level eyes.

"Mr. Morrison," he said, "you are quite right. The first man who pays
gets the land; but I have won the first chance to pay. You will kindly
step one side until I finish my business with Mr. Smithers here."

"I suppose you have the amount actually with you," said the clerk, quite
respectfully, "because if you have not, Mr. Morrison's claim will take
precedence."

"I would hardly have any business in a land office, if I did not know
that," replied Thorpe, and began his dictation 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
dispassionately, why should he expect Carpenter to trust him, a
stranger, with so large a sum? It had been madness. Only the blind
confidence of the fighting man led him further into the struggle.
Another would have given up, would have stepped aside from the path of
this bona-fide purchaser with the money in his hand.

But Thorpe was of the kind that hangs on until the last possible second,
not so much in the expectation of winning, as in sheer reluctance to
yield. Such men shoot their last cartridge before surrendering, swim the
last ounce of strength from their arms before throwing them up to
sink, search coolly until the latest moment for a way from the burning
building,--and sometimes come face to face with miracles.

Thorpe's descriptions were contained in the battered little note-book
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 generic description followed another figure representing the
section of that particular district. So 49--17 W--8, meant section 8,
of the township on range 49 north, 17 west. If Thorpe 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--17--8, meant the southwest forty of the
northwest quarter of section 8 in the township already described.

The clerk marked across each square of his map as Thorpe read them, the
date and the purchaser's name.

In his note-boo