nload
consid'able of my thousand acres on the sufferin' fools that's yearnin' to
come into this country an' work their heads off raisin' alfalfa an' hawgs,
an' cabbages an' sons with Pick-a-dilly collars to be eddicated East an'
come back home some day an' lift the mortgage from the old
homestead--which job they always falls down on--findin' it more to their
likin' to mortgage their souls to buy jew'l'ry for fast wimmin. Well, not
digressin' any, I run a-foul of a guy last week which was dead set on
investin' in ten acres of my land, skirtin' one of the irrigation ditches
which they're figgerin' on puttin' in. The price I wanted was a heap
satisfyin' to the guy. But he suggests that before he forks over the coin
we go down to the courthouse an' muss up the records to see if my title is
clear. Well, not digressin' any, she ain't! She ain't even nowheres clear
a-tall--she ain't even there! She's wiped off, slick an' clean! There
ain't a damned line to show that I ever bought my land from Dick Kessler,
an' there ain't nothin' on no record to show that Dick Kessler ever owned
it! What in hell do you think of that?

"Now, not digressin' any," he went on as Trevison essayed to speak; "that
ain't the worst of it. While I was in there, talkin' to Judge Lindman,
this here big guy that you fit with--Corrigan--comes in. I gathers from
the trend of his remarks that I never had a legal title to my land--that
it belongs to the guy which bought it from the Midland Company--which is
him. Now what in hell do you think of that?"

"I knew Dick Kessler," said Trevison, soberly. "He was honest."

"Square as a dollar!" violently affirmed Lefingwell.

"It's too bad," sympathized Trevison. "That places you in a mighty bad
fix. If there's anything I can do for you, why--"

"Mr. 'Brand' Trevison?" said a voice at Trevison's elbow. Trevison turned,
to see a short, heavily built man smiling mildly at him.

"I'm a deputy from Judge Lindman's court," announced the man. "I've got a
summons for you. Saw you coming in here--saves me a trip to your place."
He shoved a paper into Trevison's hands, grinned, and went out. For an
instant Trevison stood, looking after the man, wondering how, since the
man was a stranger to him, he had recognized him--and then he opened the
paper to discover that he was ordered to appear before Judge Lindman the
following day to show cause why he should not be evicted from certain
described property held unlawfully by hi