'Firebrand' Trevison - Charles Alden Seltzer (top 10 books of all time .txt) š
- Author: Charles Alden Seltzer
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āIām āBrandā Trevison, owner of the Diamond K ranch, near Manti,ā said the stranger, with blunt sharpness that made the Judge blink. āIāve a case on in the Manti court at ten oāclock tomorrowātoday,ā he corrected. āThey are going to try to swindle me out of my land, and Iāve got to have a lawyerāa real one. I could have got half a dozen in Mantiāsuch as they areābut I want somebody who is wise in the law, and with the sort of honor that money and power canāt blastāI want you!ā
Judge Graney looked sharply at his visitor, and smiled. āYou are evidently desperately harried. Sit down and tell me about your case.ā He waved to a chair and Trevison dropped into it, sitting on its edge. The Judge took another, and with the kerosene lamp between them on a table, Trevison related what had occurred during the previous morning in Manti. When he concluded, the Judgeās face was serious.
āIf what you say is true, it is a very awkward, not to say suspicious, situation. Being the only lawyer in Dry Bottom, until the coming of Judge Lindman, I have had occasion many times to consult the record you speak of, and if my memory serves me well, I have noted several timesāquite casually, of course, since I have never been directly concerned with the records of the land in your vicinityāthat several transfers of title to the original Midland grant have been recorded. Your deed would show, of course, the date of your purchase from Buck Peters, and we shall, perhaps, be able to determine the authenticity of the present record in that manner. But if, as you believe, the records have been tampered with, we are facing a long, hard legal battle which may or may not result in an ultimate victory for usādepending upon the power behind the interests opposed to you.ā
āIāll fight them to the Supreme Court of the United States!ā declared Trevison. āIāll fight them with the law or without it!ā
āI know it,ā said Graney, with a shrewd glance at the otherās grim face. āBut be careful not to do anything that will jeopardize your liberty. If those men are what you think they are, they would be only too glad to have you break some law that would give them an excuse to jail you. You couldnāt do much fighting then, you know.ā He got up. āThereās a train out of here in about an hourāweāll take it.ā
About six oāclock that morning the two men stepped off the train at Manti. Graney went directly to a hotel, to wash and breakfast, while Trevison, a little tired and hollow-eyed from loss of sleep and excitement, and with a two daysā growth of beard on his face, which made him look worse than he actually felt, sought the livery stable where he had left Nigger the night before, mounted the animal and rode rapidly out of town toward the Diamond K. He took a trail that led through the cut where on another morning he had startled the laborers by riding down the wallāNigger eating up the ground with long, sure, swift stridesāpassing Pat Carson and his men at a point on the level about a quarter of a mile beyond the cut. He waved a hand to Carson as he flashed by, and something in his manner caused Carson to remark to the engineer of the dinky engine: āSomethinās up wid Trevison agāin, Murphāheās got a domned mean look in his eye. Iām the onluckiest son-av-a-gun in the worruld, Murph! First I miss seeinā this fire-eater bate the face off the big ilephant, Corrigan, anā yisterday I was figgerinā on goinā to townābut didnāt; anā I miss seeinā that little whiffet of a Braman flyinā through the windy. Do yeās know that thereās a feelinā agāin Corrigan anā the railroad in town, anā thot this mon Trevison is the fuse that wud bust the boom av discontint. Iām beginninā to feel a little excited meself. Now what do ye suppose that gang av min wid Winchesters was doinā, cominā from thot direction this morninā?ā He pointed toward the trail that Trevison was riding. āAnā that big stiff, Corrigan, wid thim!ā
Trevison got the answer to this query the minute he reached the Diamond K ranchhouse. His foreman came running to him, pale, disgusted, his voice snapping like a whip:
āTheyāve busted your desk anā rifled it. Twenty guys who said they was deputies from the court in Manti, anā Corrigan. I was here alone, watchinā, as you told me, but couldnāt move a fingerādamn āem!ā
Trevison dismounted and ran into the house. The room that he used as an office was in a state of disorder. Papers, books, littered the floor. It was evident that a thorough search had been madeāfor something. Trevison darted to the desk and ran a hand into the pigeonhole in which he kept the deed which he had come for. The hand came out, empty. He sprang to the door of a small closet where, in a box that contained some ammunition that he kept for the use of his men, he had placed the money that Rosalind Benham had brought to him. The money was not there. He walked to the center of the room and stood for an instant, surveying the mass of litter around him, reeling, rage-drunken, murder in his heart. Barkwell, the foreman, watching him, drew great, long breaths of sympathy and excitement.
āShall I get the boys anā go after them damn sneaks?ā he questioned, his voice tremulous. āWeāll clean āem outāsmoke āem out of the county!ā he threatened. He started for the door.
āWait!ā Trevison had conquered the first surge of passion; his grin was cold and bitter as he crossed glances with his foreman. āDonāt do anythingāyet. Iām going to play the peace string out. If it doesnāt work, why thenāā He tapped his pistol holster significantly.
āYou get a few of the boys and stay here with them. It isnāt probable that theyāll try anything like that again, because theyāve got what they wanted. But if they happen to come again, hold them until I come. Iām going to court.ā
Later, in Manti, he was sitting opposite Graney in a room in the hotel to which the Judge had gone.
āHām,ā said the latter, compressing his lips; āthatās sharp practice. They are not wasting any time.ā
āWas it legal?ā
āThe law is elasticāsome judges stretch it more than others. A search-warrant and a writ of attachment probably did the business in this case. What I canāt understand is why Judge Lindman issued the writ at allāif he did so. You are the defendant, and you certainly would have brought the deed into court as a means of proving your case.ā
Trevison had mentioned the missing money, though he did not think it important to explain where it had come from. And Judge Graney did not ask him. But when court opened at the appointed time, with a dignity which was a mockery to Trevison, and Judge Graney had explained that he had come to represent the defendant in the action, he mildly inquired the reason for the forcible entry into his clientās house, explaining also that since the defendant was required to prove his case it was optional with him whether or not the deed be brought into court at all.
Corrigan had been on time; he had nodded curtly to Trevison when he had entered to take the chair in which he now sat, and had smiled when Trevison had deliberately turned his back. He smiled when Judge Graney asked the questionāa faint, evanescent smirk. But at Judge Lindmanās reply he sat staring stolidly, his face an impenetrable mask:
āThere was no mention of a deed in the writ of attachment issued by the court. Nor has the court any knowledge of the existence of such a deed. The officers of the court were commanded to proceed to the defendantās house, for the purpose of finding, if possible, and delivering to this court the sum of twenty-seven hundred dollars, which amount, representing the money paid to the defendant by the railroad company for certain grants and privileges, is to remain in possession of the court until the title to the land in litigation has been legally awarded.ā
āBut the court officers seized the defendantās deed, also,ā objected Judge Graney.
Judge Lindman questioned a deputy who sat in the rear of the room. The latter replied that he had seen no deed. Yes, he admitted, in reply to a question of Judge Graneyās, it might have been possible that Corrigan had been alone in the office for a time.
Graney looked inquiringly at Corrigan. The latter looked steadily back at him. āI saw no deed,ā he said, coolly. āIn fact, it wouldnāt be possible for me to see any deed, for Trevison has no title to the property he speaks of.ā
Judge Graney made a gesture of impotence to Trevison, then spoke slowly to the court. āI am afraid that without the deed it will be impossible for us to proceed. I ask a continuance until a search can be made.ā
Judge Lindman coughed. āI shall have to refuse the request. The plaintiff is anxious to take possession of his property, and as no reason has been shown why he should not be permitted to do so, I hereby return judgment in his favor. Court is dismissed.ā
āI give notice of appeal,ā said Graney.
Outside a little later Judge Graney looked gravely at Trevison. āThereās knavery here, my boy; thereās some sort of influence behind Lindman. Letās see some of the other owners who are likely to be affected.ā
This task took them two days, and resulted in the discovery that no other owner had secured a deed to his land. Lefingwell explained the omission.
āA sale is a sale,ā he said; āor a sale has been a sale until now. Land has changed hands out here just the same as weād trade a horse for a cow or a pipe for a jack-knife. There was no questions asked. When a man had a piece of land to sell, he sold it, got his money anā didnāt bother to give a receipt. Half the damn fools in this country wouldnāt know a deed from a marriage license, anā they havenāt been needinā one or the other. For when a man has a wife sheās continually remindinā him of it, anā he canāt forget itāheās got her. Itās the same with his landāheās got it. So far as I know thereās never been a deed issued for my landāor any of the land in that Midland grant, except Trevisonās.ā
āIt looks as though Corrigan had considered that phase of the matter,ā dryly observed Judge Graney. āThe case doesnāt look very hopeful. However, I shall take it before the Circuit Court of Appeals, in Santa Fe.ā
He was gone a week, and returned, disgusted, but determined.
āThey denied our appeal; said they might have considered it if we had some evidence to offer showing that we had some sort of a claim to the title. When I told them of my conviction that the records had been tampered with, they laughed at me.ā The Judgeās eyes gleamed indignantly. āSometimes, I feel heartily in sympathy with people who rail at the courtsātheir attitude is often positively asinine.ā
āPerhaps the long arm of power has reached to Santa Fe?ā suggested Trevison.
āIt wonāt reach to Washington,ā declared the Judge, decisively. āAnd if you say the word, Iāll go there and see what I can do. Itās an outrage!ā
āI was hoping youād goāthereās no limit,ā said Trevison. āBut as I see the situation, everything depends upon the discovery of the original record. Iām convinced that it
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