THE struggle in the lawyer's mind was a sharp one, but the moment it was over he shook himself free from every disposition to waver or flinch. All the hesitation he could feel was with regard to undertaking the case; once assumed, he was incapable of prosecuting it otherwise than vigorously. He immediately set himself to work therefore to make every investigation which could tend to establish the title of his clients. The grounds of that title, so far at least as the knowledge of them is necessary to the intelligibility of this narrative, admit of a very simple and brief statement.

Somewhere about the middle of the seventeenth century, Roland Compton received letters patent containing the grant of a large tract of land, the boundaries of which were described. There were six corners to the tract, at each of which a stone was planted bearing the initials of the grantee, and its own number reckoned in order from the place of beginning. One of these stones, that numbered fourth, was designated as placed on the bank of Hardwater Run. A few years later, a certain Astiville obtained the grant of a body of land lying immediately north of Compton's, and divided from it for a distance of more than fifteen hundred poles by the afore-mentioned Run or creek.

Everlyn. The fourth corner-stone, which might have decided the matter, could not be found.

Such was the state of the case when Somers took it in hand. He was able to show in behalf of his clients that the prevailing impression in the neighborhood had been, that the Compton tract extended to the upper branch; yet he was not able to prove the exercise by that family of any rights of ownership over it, saving the late sale made by executors in pursuance of specific directions of testament; which sale the other claimant had immediately resisted. Little could be effected by the surveyors. The old patents very rarely had regard to minute accuracy. Corners were marked and perhaps the bearings of lines given, but the chain carriers were often dispensed with. The attempts that were made to run the west line in order to search for the stone where it crossed the two branches, resulted only in additional perplexity. No allowance that could be tried for variation of compass, made the lines which were well known and quite undisputed, either conformable to the courses laid down on the plot, or consistent with each other. The only way of explaining the difficulty was, to suppose gross carelessness in the old surveyors, or-what is more probable, a defect in the instrument used. It was clear at any rate that no rule could be derived for ascertaining the unknown line.

Somers endeavored to discover how long it had been that the corner-stone was missing, but on this head could gain no satisfaction. Some middle-aged men said they had heard their fathers, now deceased, speak of the stone on the Hardwater as an object with which they were familiar, and as to whose po

sition there was no ground to entertain any doubt. These persons when further questioned, declared for the most part that a strong conviction had been left upon their minds that the stone spoken of was on the upper branch, yet they could not remember having ever been expressly told so. On the other hand, some very old men whom the lawyer examined, seemed to have no knowledge of the matter whatever. The fact was, that until the present controversy arose, the parties most interested had been extremely negligent. The land in question lay at a distanee from both the Compton and the Astiville residences; with the exception of the inconsiderable portion occupied by squatters, it had remained a wilderness; the families had been more than once connected by intermarriage, and would, either, probably have deemed it a very unworthy thing to disturb their friendly intimaey by too strict an investigation into the precise boundary separating their tracts of almost countless acres.

Though the Comptons were not concerned in the suit, the records of the family were cheerfully put at the service of those who held under their title. Most of the papers of any value had already been scrutinized by Somers, as recorded in the county clerk's office and at the capital of the State. There was one, however, of considerable importance which he had never before seen. It was a mere draught, not signed nor witnessed, yet it bore on its face the evidence of authenticity, and was very capable of producing an effect on a jury. In it, reference was made to some localities which required to be explained and verified.

Somers, therefore, after making a few memoranda in his pocket-book, rode up the Hardwater. He proceeded first to a spot where a fine spring gushed out of the bank, and flowing but a few feet, contributed its clear current to the lower branch. Then measuring off ten strides up the stream, he came to a large stump. The top of the tree lay upon the ground and its huge limbs were clothed with leaves yet unwithered; but a block some five feet long had been removed. Tom Foley, lived close by, and Somers went at once to his house. Before summoning the man to the door, our shrewd investigator made the circuit of the squatter's enclosure in order to detect if possible the object of his search. Near the fence

on the east side, he found one half of a white-oak log. In length it agreed with that which had been taken from the brink of the Run, and a wedge which lay at its side seemed to show that the other moiety had not long been separated from it. Just as he was about to dismount and make a closer inspection, a villanous looking cur darted out and saluted him and his horse with such a yelping clamor as soon drew forth the master of the premises.

"How do you do, Mr. Foley?" said Somers when the dog lowered his voice to a key which did not altogether forbid conversation. "Your family are well, I hope."

Tolerable, thanky sir; my woman's sort of complaining to be sure, but she's seldom otherwise."

"That looks like a tough bit of whiteoak, Mr. Foley."

Yes," answered the man, giving him at the same time a keen and inquisitive look.

"You got it from near the spring yonder, I see."

"Oh, I don't say

where it came fromit might have been this place or it might have been that, or, for all I care, it may have come from no-where.”

"I suppose you have no objection to my turning it over and looking at the other side?"

"I have though," said Foley,-" very strong objections, too. I reckon I know well enough you are lawyer for the Yankees, and I don't want to get into any scrape about cutting down their timbernot that I cut this stick, or that it came from the corner-I mean the tree by the branch-but then it can't do me any good to have you projecking about here, so you may as well be contented up in your saddle where you are.

"What has become of the other half, Mr. Foley-is it burnt up ?"

"Oh don't trouble yourself about the other half, there's not any cause by no means. You'll see it I reckon full as soon as you want to, and in a place may be where you don't expect. It might light on top of some folks' head for what I know, and then it will be apt to make them see stars."

"That would be terrible indeed," said Somers smiling, but I am inclined to think that the man who undertook to shoulder

such a log as this would be more likely to sink down crushed by his load than to hurl it upon the head of another."

Foley was about to say something in answer but checked himself, and Somers perceiving that nothing more was to be got out of him, struck through the woods to the Upper Branch of the Hardwater. The distance was not very great, perhaps half a mile, and it was this proximity which added difficulty to the interpretation of the patents. If the streams destined to unite in the end had been as far apart here as they became lower down, the enormous difference that would have been made between the two constructions of the length of the west line of the Compton tract could hardly have allowed of the matter's being brought into doubt. A wide gravelly bed, with here and there a slimy pool connected by a small feebly-trickling rill; such was the Upper Branch as Somers found it. Taking out his memorandum, he rode down the bank. His watchful glance seemed to detect nothing that gave him satisfaction, and turning round he proceeded about an equal distance up the stream. That which he looked for still shunned his sight. Whilst thus busily though fruitlessly occupied, the figure of a man stretched at length at the foot of a Sycamore on the opposite side of the run caught his eye. He hastened thither, but on the way his horse's hoof rang against a stone and startled the solitary from his meditation or slumber. The man sprang to his feet, gazed for a moment at the horseman with an expression indicative of anxiety or vexation, and strode away into the woods.

Somers spoke, but the figure only walked on the faster. The pursuer spurred his steed and would soon have overtaken him had he not suddenly turned toward the right, and with great agility run up a hill too steep and too much encumbered with rocks to be safely ascended by a mounted

man.

Somers determined not to be baffled, and fastening his horse to a sapling followed the chase on foot. The advantage of youth was on his side, and he gained ground at every instant. On the summit a little cleared spot appeared. The fugitive sprang over the fence which surrounded it, and then, though rushing at the top of his speed, inclined a few yards to one side in order to

avoid trampling on a bed of flourishing to bacco plants. Somers unaffected by similar scruples, took the most direct course to the cabin in the middle of the lot. Still the other was first at the door, and entertering, closed it with violence in the face of the pursuer. His fury, however, brought its own defeat; the upper hinge was shattered by the jar, and the door fell at full length, disclosing the whole interior of the room. The single occupant could be plainly seen. His hair, long, shaggy and white, hung about a visage so thin and sharp that, aided by the lankness of his lower person, it made him appear not merely tall, as he was, but of super-human height. Yet there was much of dignity in his countenance, and it was with a manner far more composed and impressive than the lawyer expected, that after a moment's pause he was the first to speak.

"Will you tell me sir what your business may be?"

Somers' object was to gather witnesses, and he thought he had a special right to every old man he could find. His captive was a treasure. Living on the very line, as it were, of the two patents, and if appearances were to be trusted, an octogenarian at least in age, it seemed that if any living man were capable of giving the desired information he should be. His profession, of course, supplied the lawyer with sufficient effrontry to prevent his feeling any embarrassment at such an unceremonious intrusion, so he answered very calmly: "You have lived a long while in this spot, I presume?"

"Long? What do you call long? Time is but the creature of the mind-I came here yesterday-yet when I came that tree (he pointed to an oak of some eight or ten inches diameter,) was an acorn.

you are

"At least," said Somers, well acquainted with the country around." "Who knows it better?" replied this singular individual. "The hawk?-poor short-sighted thing, he strikes his prey one morning, and on the morrow passes over the place and recognizes it not. The serpent? It deposits its eggs in the sand, and knows not that the ground nourishes other adders than those which belong to its own crawling kind. There are secrets buried in the earth of which the mole or the musk-rat cannot inform you, which I

distance," said Somers, "and put me on my way out of the woods ?"

The hermit assented. As they passed through the yard he stopped and raised up some tobacco plants which Somers had trampled down, and with his hands very carefully drew earth around them. This task over he resumed his walk. Somers proceeded at his side, determined to suffer him to choose the direction. He retraced without deviation the very route by which they had raced to the cabin. Very soon the edge of the rocky descent was reached. The horse was visible standing quietly at the bottom. Here the guide stopped. "Will you not go further?" said So

mers.

if

แ No; there's your beast-mount, and you have lost your way, give him a loose rein and he will take you surely to a place of habitation."

So saying, he turned abruptly and sought his lonely abode.

Somers, abandoning the thought of any further search along the Upper Branch, set out in the direction of Daylsborough. After travelling some half a dozen miles he came to Murray's store. This was a small straggling village, containing a shop where all sorts of things were bought and sold at prices arguing well for the profits of the merchant, a blacksmith's shanty, a house of private entertainment and a Post Office. The proprietor of the whole was Samuel Murray, a trig, dapper little man, who delivered letters, posted items of smith-work, measured off calico, and mingled mint-juleps, with equal alacrity and skill. It was an excellently situated stand, and in consideration of the long dreary miles that radiated from it in every direction, there were few travellers who had the courage to pass without halting. Somers had no desire to be singular, and committing his horse to the groom, sat down sociably in the porch by the side of Sam Murray.

"So you are attending well to your clients, Mr. Somers, I perceive-that daughter of Newlove's, by the way, is a right down nice little lady, and they say that the man who gets her, will be blessed at the same time with a very pretty heap of coin, too. You are lucky, sir, to be first in the field, and I have no doubt will distance every thing else that puts in."

Somers laughed and replied

"oh, I

don't deserve to win an heiress-be assured the course is quite open as far as concerns me, I did not even call to see the lady this time." "Indeed!-well you must be busy with the patent-case, certain. If it's no harm to ask, Mr. Somers, how do you like the looks of things-do the New York gentlemen stand tolerably safe?"

"Yes sir, I really think they do." "Of course it don't become me,' " said the landlord, " to be either glad or sorry. A body, you know, can't help standing up sort-of, for the old families-but then the Yankees are first-rate pay. They have a pert, inquisitive kind of manner, to be sure, and look sharp into everything they get, but if a body knows how to take them, they are not worse than other people to deal with. Indeed, I believe one of our natives will out-trade a Yorker all hollow. Never mind what you take to them they'll pretend to understand everything about it better than you do yourself and you know if a man's smart, he can make a conceited person believe anything."

I dare say you are right, Mr. Murray -no one, at any rate, ought to be a better judge of such matters. All the world knows that Sam Murray was never caught asleep."

"Don't talk so for gracious sake," said Murray, modestly. "I shall have to learn how to blush. I might have done to pass among a crowd, but that I have some drops of Yankce blood in me, which makes my Southern smartness too weak to stand inspection-my grandfather came from Connecticut. I hope, though, the breed's most acclimated by this time-I am trying to train my boys to talk smooth and soapy to customers, without blowing blasts through their noses fit to scare. As for their daddy, the only way he can scratch along is to try to know everybody—this saves from losing, and the man that loses nothing is mighty apt to gain a little once in a while.”

to

Your referring," said Somers, your extensive acquaintance, reminds me to ask you to tell me something about a man I met to-day-a very tall person with long white hair. He lives on the north side of the Upper Fork of the Hardwater, about five miles, I suppose, from here."

"You are most too hard for me there," answered Murray, "I understand who you mean, but that's pretty much all the satisfaction I can give you. He built himself