The Long Chance

by Peter B. Kyne

  CHAPTER X

  Now; in order to insure even perfunctory understanding of the procedureunder which Bob McGraw planned to acquire his lands, and to give aninkling of the difficulties confronting him, it is necessary that thereader take a five-minute course in land law. This is regrettable, forit is a dry subject, even in the matter of swamp and overflow lands, sowe shall endeavor to make the course as brief as possible.

  Section sixteen and thirty-six in each township throughout the UnitedStates are commonly designated as "school lands," for the reason thatthe Federal government has ceded them to the various states, to be soldby the states for the use and benefit of their public school funds.School lands are open to purchase by any citizen of the United States,and in the case of California school lands the statutory price is onedollar and twenty-five cents per acre.

  Now, frequently it happens that by reason of the inclusion of certainof these "school lands" in a Forest Reserve, a Reclamation District, anIndian Reservation, a National Park, a Government Military Reservationor an old Mexican grant (which latter condition obtains very frequentlyin California, where the titles to many huge grants still hold sincethe days of the Mexican occupation) they are lost to the state. In suchcases, the Federal government reimburses the state suffering such lossof school lands, by extending to the state the privilege of selectingfrom the public lands within its borders an acreage corresponding to theacreage thus lost by reason of inclusion in a restricted area.

  The lands thus selected from the public domain in exchange for schoollands lost to the state, having been taken in lieu, thereof, are knownas "state lieu lands," and the lands which were originally state schoollands and which have been lost to the state by reason of their inclusionin some restricted area, are spoken of as the "basis" for the exchange.

  If a citizen of the United States, duly qualified, desires to purchasestate school lands at the statutory price of one dollar and twenty-fivecents per acre, he must file his application for a section, or suchfraction thereof as he may desire, or be entitled to purchase, with thesurveyor-general of the state, who is also ex-officio registrar of theState Land Office. If there are no school lands open for purchase at thetime, naturally they cannot be purchased; but if, on the contrary, thestate owns many sections of school lands which have been included inrestricted areas, the surveyor-general will select for the applicantfrom the public domain such state lieu lands as the purchaser maydesire. However, no such selection of lieu lands can be made by thesurveyor-general unless there is a corresponding loss of school lands_as the basis for the selection._

  Now, this basis constituted the horns of a dilemma upon which Bob McGrawhad once found himself impaled in an attempt to purchase three hundredand twenty acres of timbered land in the public domain--land which heknew would, in the course of a few years, become very valuable. Bob'srestless nature would not permit of his taking up the claim under thehomestead law, for that would entail residence on the property for moreyears than Bob could afford to remain away from his beloved desert;hence he decided to acquire it by purchase as state lieu land at atime when he knew there were no available school lands lying outsiderestricted areas. Mr. McGraw saw an attractive profit in purchasing atone dollar and twenty-five cents per acre three hundred and twenty acresof timber worth fully fifty dollars per acre.

  Thrilled, therefore, with most pleasurable anticipations, Mr. McGraw hadduly filed his application for purchase of this particular half-section,under Section 3495 of the Political Code of the State of California. Heknew that, owing to the recent extension of the Forest Reserve policy,thousands of acres of school lands had recently been lost to the state,and that therefore, under the law, there could be no legal hindrance tohis purchase of lieu lands--particularly in view of the fact that therewere several hundred thousand acres of government lands within the statefrom which to make his selection!

  To Bob's surprise, his application for the purchase of lieu lands hadbeen denied, under a ruling of the State Land Office--a rulinghaving absolutely no foundation under any section of legislativeprocedure--which stipulated that before the State Land Office couldreceive or grant an application for the purchase of lieu lands, theintending purchaser _must first designate the basis of correspondingloss to the state of school lands._

  "Bless my innocent soul," Mr. McGraw had murmured at the time, "whata curious rule! I had a notion that that was the surveyor-general'sbusiness, not mine. I had a notion that he was paid for compiling thatinformation for the people, and not forcing them to compile it forthemselves."

  However, in no whit daunted by the prospect of a little research work,Bob had had recourse to the land maps in the office. To his surprise andchagrin he discovered that as fast as he brought to light a "basis" forhis selection, he was informed, after some perfunctory investigationby the employees of the State Land Office that these bases _had alreadybeen used!_ Eventually the light of reason began to sift through the fogof despair and suddenly Bob had a very brilliant idea.

  "Euchred!" he muttered to himself. "I do not happen to possess therequisite amount of inside information and I have no means of obtainingit until I ascertain where it is for sale! The purpose of thisridiculous rule is to keep the rabble out of the public domain untilsome middleman gets a profit out of his information. I'll just give upfor the time being and await results."

  Bob did not have long to wait. Within a week he received a letter froman alleged land attorney, offering to locate him on state lieu landsworth fifty dollars per acre, in return for the trifling payment ofone dollar and twenty-five cents per acre to the state and the furthertrifling payment of ten dollars per acre to the purveyor of informationrespecting the necessary basis for the exchange!

  At the time this procedure had struck Bob as rather humorous. He was anardent admirer of genius wherever lie saw it, and even this exhibitionof evil genius, which so adroitly deprived him of his constitutionalright to the public domain without the payment of a middleman's profit,rather aroused his admiration. At the time he was not financiallyequipped to argue the matter calmly, clearly--and judicially, and hehad no money to pay for "inside information." He only knew that the rulerequiring applicants to designate the basis was an office-made rule andhad no place in Mr. McGraw's copy of the Political Code of the State ofCalifornia.

  And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave, O'er the land of the free and the home of the knave

  caroled Bob, and charged the matter up to experience, not, however,without first storing the incident away in his nimble brain for futurereference.

  Now, while recovering from his wound at the Hat Ranch, Bob had broodedmuch over the difficulties which would without doubt assail him in hisattempt to acquire his lands in Owens river valley; also he had figuredout to his own satisfaction the exact method by which the land-grabberwas enabled to grab; or, provided the grabber did not care to retainhis grab, how he could nevertheless derive tremendous profits from hiscontrol of certain officials in the State Land Office. Therefore, afterhis day spent in the public law library in San Francisco, Bob's brainwas primed with every detail of the land laws, and had confirmed hisoriginal interpretation of the land-grabbers' clever schemes to defraud.However, not satisfied with his own opinion, he decided to seek a littleexpert advice on the subject, and to that end he went the followingmorning to his father's old friend and his own former employer, HomerDunstan, the corporation attorney, whom he knew to be an authority onland law.

  He sent in his name by Dunstan's stenographer, and presently Dunstanappeared in the reception room. He welcomed his old friend's failure ofa son in a manner which bespoke forced heartiness, for old sake's sake,and a preconceived impression that the ill-dressed, pale Bob McGraw hadcome to him to borrow money. They shook hands and stood for a momentlooking at each other.

  "Glad to see you again, Bobby, after all these years. You've grown.Where in the world have you been ranging since I saw you last?" HomerDunstan was forcing an interest in Bob McGraw which he was far fromfeeling, and Bob wa
s not insensible to this.

  He grinned. "Drifting, Mr. Dunstan--just drifting. Mines andmining--mostly the latter; there's a difference, you know. It's myinheritance, Mr. Dunstan, despite all poor old dad did to make mefollow in your footsteps. So I've quit bucking the inevitable and turnedwanderer. Do you happen to be engaged with a client just now?"

  "Well--no, not just this minute. Perhaps if you'll call--"

  "No, I will not call later. My motto is 'Do it now.' Seeing that you'reregularly in the business of dispensing legal advice, I'd like to takeadvantage of the ever-active present." He pulled from his hip pocket atattered wallet and produced a hundred-dollar bill. "Mr. Dunstan, howmuch expert legal advice can you give me for that?"

  Dunstan's manner underwent a swift metamorphosis. "Oh, put back yourmoney, boy. I have an hour to spare this morning, and for your father'ssake my advice to you will always be given gratis on Mondays andFridays."

  "Glad I called on Friday, even if it is an unlucky day. Your generosityknocks that superstition galley-west, so I'll take you at your word.Also I will gladly retain this century. To tell the truth I have urgentneed of it for other things," and he followed Dunstan into the latter'sprivate office. Dunstan indicated an easy chair and presented hisex-assistant with a fifty-cent cigar.

  "Well, Bobby, my boy, what's on your soul this morning?"

  "A very heavy weight, Mr. Dunstan. Desert land. Acres and acres of it."

  "Any water?"

  "Not yet."

  "Any prospect?!"

  "I have it bottled up, and it's all mine. Now I want the land."

  "Well?"

  "I want to acquire thirty-two thousand acres of state lieu land in Owensriver valley, Mr. Dunstan."

  "You cannot do it."

  "Well, suppose there was a rule in the State Land Office which forcedprospective purchasers of state lieu lands to first designate the basisof exchange before their applications would be received and filed.Suppose also that you wanted to turn crook and steal thirty-two thousandacres of lieu land, despite this rule. How would you go about it?"

  The lawyer glanced at him keenly. "See here, son, I don't give that kindof advice to young fellows--or old fellows for that matter--even formoney. I'm an honest corporation attorney, and stealing the publicdomain is illegal--and very, very risky."

  "Don't worry, sir. When I have your advice, I will not follow it. Tellme how you would steal this land. It's a hypothetical question."

  Dunstan smiled. "That's unfair--attacking a lawyer with a hypotheticalquestion. It's rather hoisting him on his own petard, as it were.However, I'll answer it. In the first place, if I planned to go intothe business of looting the public domain I would conspire with someprominent official of the State Land Office to institute such a rule."

  "Good. Somebody conspired with a surveyor-general forty years agoand had such a rule instituted in the State Land Office. The statelegislature, however, has never been asked to confirm that rule andspread it in black and white on the statute books."

  "Well, having had such a rule instituted" continued Dunstan, "I wouldthen have the public at a disadvantage. Through my friend in the landoffice I would have primary access to the field notes of the chief ofstaff in the field, and I would have advance information of wherelosses of school lands were soon to occur. In other words I would be inposition to designate every basis of exchange of lost school lands forlieu lands, and the public would not. I'd give some weak brother sayone hundred dollars to file on some lieu lands and use the basis whichI would designate, and in the meantime I would hustle around, secure inthe knowledge that I had the basis tied up. It would appear of recordas used in the state land office. When I had secured a customer for thelieu land I had tied up with my dummy applicant, the dummy would abandonhis filing in favor of my client, I would collect the difference betweenthe statutory cost of the land and the price my client paid me for it,whack up with my friends in the land office and consider myself a smartbusiness man."

  Bob nodded. "I figured it out that way also. Now, suppose anoutsider--myself, for instance--succeeded in getting his applicationfiled without designating the basis for the exchange of lands, and thesurveyor-general has issued me a receipt for my preliminary payment oftwenty dollars on account of the purchase of the lieu land--what then?When he discovered I was an outsider, could he reject my application?"

  "Well, he might try, Bob. But with his receipt in your possession, thatwould be bona-fide evidence of an implied contract of bargain and salebetween you and the State of California. You could institute a mandamussuit and force him to make the selection of lieu lands for you."

  "I figured it out that way" said Bob musingly. "The only rift in thesurveyor-general's lute is the fact that while he has never yet bumpedup against the right man, he is due to so bump in the very near future.However, Mr. Dunstan, I do not think our present surveyor-general isdoing business with the land ring. I think the guilty man is one ofhis deputies through whom ninety-nine per cent of the office routine istransacted, and the land-grabbers have him under their thumbs."

  "Then why not go direct to the surveyor-general with your troubles?"queried Dunstan.

  Bob shook his head. "No hope in that direction. The office records showall bases used, and the deputy--the surveyor-general, in fact--can finddefense for their arbitrary ruling in the matter of designation of thebasis--by claiming that their office force is not large enough to permitof such extended search of the records; hence they turn their recordsover to the applicant of lieu lands and let him search for himself. Thesurveyor-general, being honest, will be hard to convince that his deputyis not--particularly since the deputy is probably an old friend."

  "It's a peculiar condition" said Dunstan. "The worst that can happen tothe deputy is to lose his job, the dummy entryman can abandon his filingat any time he may elect, and there is no law making it a felony toaccept money in exchange for information--if you do not state where youacquired it. How are you going to stop this looting?"

  "I'm not quite certain that I want it stopped--right away" said Bob,and grinned his lazy inscrutable smile. "I want to do a little grabbingmyself, only I want to do it legally. I have a scheme worked out to dothis, but I want you to confirm it. Just now you schemed out a plan toget public lands illegally, and you ought to be able to scheme a planto get them legally, operating on the state lieu land basis. I wantthirty-two thousand acres of desert land and the law only allows mea selection of six hundred and forty. I want to get this thirty-twothousand acres without corrupting any weakling in the employ of thestate, without paying money to dummy entrymen, without designating thebasis for the selection of my fifty sections, without antagonizing theland ring and without disturbing that rule of the State Land Office, canit be done?"

  Dunstan frowned at his visitor. "Of course it cannot be done" heretorted sharply. "Why do you ask me such fool questions?"

  "Because it might be done--with a little luck and some money."

  Dunstan shook his head. "There is only one way for you to acquire desertland, Bob, without disturbing the rule in that land office. You'll haveto file on a half-section only, under the Desert Land Law of the UnitedStates of America, paying twenty-five cents per acre down at the timeof filing your application. Then you must place one-eighth of it undercultivation and produce a reasonably profitable crop. You must spendnot less than, three dollars per acre in improvements, and convince thegovernment that the entire tract, if not actually under irrigation, isat least susceptible to it. That accomplished, you can pay the balanceof one dollar per acre due on the land, prove up and secure a patent.That's the only way you can secure desert lands without doing some ofthe things you wish to avoid doing."

  Bob shook his head. "Too slow, too expensive and generally irritating.Why, I'd have to live on the land until I could prove up!"

  "Well, then, Bobby boy, put your scruples behind you and pay somebodyto live on it and prove up for you." "No use" mourned Bob. "I can seemyself at the head of a long procession of desert-land enthu
siasts,bound for McNeill's Island, and I'm too young to waste my youth makinglittle rocks out of big ones. Even if the attorney-general didn't haveme on the carpet, I'd have to ride herd on one hundred dummy entrymenwith a Gatling gun, or else equip each one with an Oregon boot. My landlies in a devil's country and I don't think they'd stay. You see, Mr.Dunstan, were it not for that confounded rule I mentioned, I couldpurchase a full section of desert land in the public domain, under theprovisions of the state lieu land law. Under that law the land wouldonly cost me one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, while underthe United Slates Desert Land Laws it would cost me not less than fourdollars and a quarter per acre. Too much money for Bob McGraw. Now,Owens river valley is pure desert, Mr. Dunstan, and it lies, or willlie, very shortly, in the public domain. It is not agricultural land,neither is it coal-bearing nor timbered, so I can purchase it by thefull section, which will only require fifty entrymen. Besides, therehave never been any entries made heretofore in the section of the valleythat I have my eye on, and I'd like to get my land in one strip withouthaving it checker-boarded with adverse holdings."

  Dunstan smiled a little wearily. "But we're not getting anywhere, Bob,my boy. You're simply wasting your breath. Just what nebulous idea forthe acquisition of this desert land have you floating around in that redhead of yours? Now, then, proposition Number One."

  "I cannot oppose that rule. I must sneak my applications in and getthem filed and secure a receipt, when I will be in position to force theattorney-general to make the selections for my clients."

  "Oh, they're clients, eh?" said Dunstan. "I thought they were to bedummy entrymen."

  "They are--but they don't know it--and not knowing it, they will not becommitting a crime."

  "Ignorance of the law excuses nobody, Robert. But proceed withproposition Number Two."

  "My clients are to be paupers--so I must pay for the land which theywill file upon. Hence I shall need money."

  Homer Dunstan figured rapidly on a desk pad.

  Notarial fees on fifty applications @ $ .50 $ 25.00 Filing fees " " " @ 5.00 250.00 First payment " " @ 20.00 1000.00 _______________ Total, $1275.00

  "It will take $1275 to start you off, Bob, presuming, for the sake ofargument, that your filings are accepted--which, of course, they willnot be."

  "Oh, I have the twelve seventy-five, all right" said Bob confidently.

  "Well, after your applications are passed to patent, you will have toput up $780 more for each section, or $39,000 in all. Have you providedfor this additional sum?"

  "Why, no sir. I was going to ask you to lend it to me."

  "Indeed! Well, assume that I'm that soft-headed, Bobby, and proceed toproposition Number Three."

  "Well, under the law, my applications must be acted upon within sixmonths after filing. The surveyor-general must approve or disapprovethem within six months, and if he approves them--"

  "Which he will not" promptly interjected Dunstan.

  "I'll sue him and make him. Well, when the applications are sent onto the Commissioner of the General Land Office at Washington for hisratification of the exchange of the lieu lands, they may be hung upthere a long time--years, perhaps--"

  "Certainly. The land ring will see to that."

  "Then, don't you see, Mr. Dunstan" said Bob, brightening, "I'll havelots of time to get that balance of $39,000 together."

  "I'm so glad" said Homer Dunstan. "Then I won't have to lend you themoney after all. Well, when you're an old man, Bobby, and that red headof yours is snowy white, your lands will be passed to patent and--"

  "But the peculiar thing about this operation, Mr. Dunstan, lies in thefact that the land ring will readily ascertain my financial condition,and that of my clients--"

  "In which event, my dear boy, your lands will be rushed to patent rightaway, you will be notified that they are waiting for you to pay thebalance due on them within, thirty days, and if at the end of thirtydays you do not pay that $39,000, your applications lapse automaticallyand your initial payment will be forfeited to the state as liquidateddamages."

  "I fear that is just what will happen. That is why I want to know if youare prepared to lend me $39,000 to call their bluff. I will assign you ahalf interest in a certain water-right which I possess, as security forthe advance. My water-right is worth millions."

  "It will have to be, if I am to consider your suggestion seriously. Getyour fifty applications passed to patent first, however. Then seeme, and I'll lend you the money you require, provided I find uponinvestigation that the security is ample. Is your water-rightdeveloped?"

  "No, sir. I've just filed on it."

  Dunstan permitted himself a very thin smile. "You're your father's son,Bob. You see visions and you'll die poor. I am firmly convincedthat you're honest, but as firmly convinced that you're chasing awill-o'-the-wisp--so I hold out very little hope for you in the matterof that loan."

  "But my water-right is good for ten times the amount" pleaded Bobdesperately, and produced T. Morgan Carey's letter to bolster up hisargument. "All I need is money to develop it."

  "And in the meantime it's worth ten cents. Bob, you weary me."

  "I'm sorry, sir. You're the only human being in this world that I cancome to for help; and I never ask help of any man, unless I can pay himwell for his trouble, And I think I can pay you well--I know I can."

  Dunstan eyed him more kindly. "Your father was a visionary, Bob, only helooked the part. You do not. I have difficulty in convincing myself thatyou're insane; but surely, Bob, you must admit that no sane man wouldseriously consider your proposition. Tell me how you expect to inducefifty paupers to apply for land for you, to do it in good faith and bewithin the law, and yet hand the land over to you. Dang it, boy, thething's impossible. You can't do it."

  "I can" replied Bob McGraw doggedly. "I can."

  "All right then, you do it. Put that trick over, Bob, and I'll take offmy hat to you."

  "You may keep your hat on your head. I want $39,000."

  "Do the impossible and I'll give it to you--without security."

  "Taken" said Bob McGraw. "I'll hold you to that, Mr. Dunstan.I'll simply round up fifty paupers, or their equivalent, with aconstitutional right to purchase state lieu land and permit me to payfor it for them. Then after I have secured the land for them I will buyit back from them--"

  Homer Dunstan roared with laughter. He pointed a bony finger at BobMcGraw.

  "Young man, the right to purchase state lieu land is a strictly personalone and it is unlawful for one person to purchase for another. Of courseyou can buy it back, Bob, but the attorney-general will have a leg-ironon you before the ink is dry on your check. Transfer of title undersuch circumstances would be looked upon as bona-fide evidence of fraud,unless your clients could prove conclusively that they had parted withtheir lands for a valuable consideration--"

  Bob McGraw in turn pointed _his_ finger at Dunstan. "Ah, that's the weakpoint in the law, Mr. Dunstan" he exulted. "A valuable consideration. Ican beat that. I'll give my clients ten dollars per acre for lands whichcost them one dollar and a quarter, and there isn't a lawyer inthe land--yourself included--who wouldn't consider that a valuableconsideration."

  "McGraw," said Dunstan rising impatiently, "you're a consummate ass!Where the devil do you expect to get $320,000 to buy their land fromthem? I suppose you think I'll help you with that, also. Your stupidityannoys me, Robert. Damme, sir, you're light in the upper story."

  Bob McGraw laughed aloud. "I won't need it. All I shall ever ask of youis that first $39,000. The water I have bottled up in the Sierra willmake the land worth three hundred dollars an acre. Don't you see where Ican afford to pay ten dollars per acre for it?"

  "You can't do business on gab, McGraw. Money makes the mare go, and youcannot induce fifty men to waste their constitutional right to lieu landon your bare word that your water-right will make a desert va
luable.You'll have to take 'em down there, at your own expense, and show 'em--"

  "Old maids in New England buy stocks in wild-cat prospect holes inNevada. Do the promoters have to bring them out to see the holes?"

  "Nobody but a fool or an idiot would listen to your crazy proposition,and fools and idiots are not qualified under the law to do anythingexcept just live and try to avoid being run over by automobiles. Butgranted that you can do all these things, what are you going to do withyour land when you get it?"

  Bob McGraw stood up and leaned both brown hands on the edge of HomerDunstan's desk. The genial mocking little smile was gone from hisface now, for Dunstan's query had brought him back from the land ofimprobabilities into the realm of his most ardent day-dream. He raisedhis hand in unconscious imitation of every zealot that had precededhim down the ages; the light of the visionary who already sees thefulfillment of his dreams blazed in his big kind brown eyes.

  "I'm going to give it to the lowly of the earth" he said. "I'm goingto subdivide it into ten-acre farms, with a perpetual water-right withevery farm. I'm going to build a town with a business block up each sideof the main street. I'm going to install a hydro-electric plant thatwill carry a load of juice sufficient to light a city of a millioninhabitants. I'm going to reclaim the desert and make it beautiful,and I'm going to have free light and free fuel and free local telephoneservice and free water and, by God! free people to live in my freecountry. I'm going to gather up a few thousand of the lowly and thehopeless in the sweat-shops of the big cities and bring them back to theland! Back to _my_ land and _my_ water that I'm going to hold in trustfor them, the poor devils! Back where there won't be any poverty--whereten acres of Inyo desert with Inyo water on it will mean a fortune toevery poor family I plant in my desert."

  "Why?" demanded Homer Dunstan smiling.

  "Why?" Bob McGraw echoed the attorney's query. He gazed at Dunstanstupidly. "Why, what a damn-fool question for you to ask, Mr. Dunstan!Isn't it right that we should look to the comfort of our helplessfellow-man? Isn't it right that we strong men should give of ourstrength to the weak? What in blue blazes are we living for in thisenlightened day and generation if it isn't to do something that's worthwhile, and to leave behind us at the last something that hasn't got theAmerican eagle stamped on it with the motto 'In God We Trust.' Ugh! Howthe good Lord must hate us for that copyrighted chunk of sophistryI It's a wonder He doesn't send His angels down to make us tend tobusiness."

  "Well, I'm not going to worry about it" retorted Dunstan crisply. "I'mtoo busy, and you're Johnny McGraw's boy Bob, so we won't quarrel aboutit. Good luck to you, old man. Get all the fun out of life that youpossibly can--in your own way--and when you get your land and can showme, I'll take a $39,000 mortgage on it, at eight per cent. Now, good-byand get out. I'm a busy man."

  Bob McGraw took up his big wide hat, shook hands with his father's oldfriend, and with heightened color withdrew. Out in the hall he pausedlong enough to swear; then, as suddenly, the old mocking cheerfulinscrutable smile came sneaking back to his sun-tanned face, and he wasat peace again. He had suddenly remembered that he was Bob McGraw, andhe had faith in himself. He thought of Donna, waiting for him in lonelySan Pasqual; he raised his hard brown fist, and in unconscious imitationof Paul Jones he cried aloud:

  "I have not yet begun to fight!"