It was theirs, hers and Bill's, and, being a
woman, she viewed its possession jealously.
So she watched with keen interest what he did. Which, in truth, was
simple enough. He worked his way to a point southeast of the clearing
till they gained a little rise whence through the treetops they could
look back and see the cabin roof. There Bill cut off an eight-inch
jack pine, leaving the stump approximately four feet high. This he
hewed square, the four flat sides of the post facing respectively the
cardinal points of the compass. On one smoothed surface Bill set to
work with his pocketknife. Hazel sat down and watched while he busied
himself at this. And when he had finished she read, in deep-carved
letters:
W. WAGSTAFF'S S. E. CORNER.
Then he penned on a sheet of letter paper a brief notice to the effect
that he, William Wagstaff, intended to apply for the purchase of the
land embraced in an area a half mile square, of which the post was the
south-east corner mark. This notice he fastened to the stump with a
few tacks, and sat down to rest from his labors.
"How long do you suppose that will stay there, and who is there to read
it, if it does?" Hazel observed.
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