I Knew At Once
That This Was G-, And Letting Him Come Up With Me, We Rode For Some
Miles Together, Each Of Us Of Course Well Aware Of The Other's
Intentions, But Too Politic To Squabble About Them When Squabbling Was
No Manner Of Use.
It was then early on the Wednesday morning, and the
Board sat on the following day.
A book is kept at the Land-Office
called the application-book, in which anyone who has business with the
Board enters his name, and his case is attended to in the order in which
his name stands. The race between G- and myself was as to who should
first get his name down in this book, and secure the ownership of the
hut by purchasing the freehold of twenty acres round it. We had nearly
a hundred miles to ride; the office closed at four in the afternoon, and
I knew that G- could not possibly be in time for that day; I had
therefore till ten o'clock on the following morning; that is to say,
about twenty-four hours from the time we parted company. Knowing that I
could be in town by that time, I took it easily, and halted for
breakfast at the first station we came to. G- went on, and I saw him no
more.
I feared that our applications would be simultaneous, or that we should
have an indecorous scuffle for the book in the Land Office itself. In
this case, there would only have remained the unsatisfactory alternative
of drawing lots for precedence.
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