The Homesteader. Micheaux Oscar

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СКАЧАТЬ years of settlement were accompanied by heavy rains, the boom that followed is almost beyond our pen to detail.

      From over all the country people came hither; people with means, for it was the land of opportunity. The man who was in many cases wealthy in older portions of the country, had come there with next to and very often with nothing and had grown rich—not by any particular ability or concentrated effort on the part of himself; not by the making and saving, investing and profiting, but because in the early days the land was of such little value and brought so little when offered for sale that it had been a case of staying thereon; result, riches came in the advance later in the price according to demand.

      Such was not the circumstances altogether in the land where Jean Baptiste had cast his lot in the hope for ultimate success. While opportunity was ripe, a few thousands had been expedient. For what could be had for a small amount here would have cost a far greater amount back east. But while land was selling and selling readily the country would and could not maintain its possible quota of development without railroad facilities. This question, therefore, was of the most urgent anxiety. When would the railroad be extended out of Bonesteel westward? At Bonesteel they said never. Others, somewhat more liberal said it might be extended in twenty years. They argued that since it had taken that many years after Bonesteel had been started before the company placed their tracks there, the same would in all probability hold with regards to the country and the towns west. So be it.

      The promoters of the town of Dallas argued that it would not be extended from Bonesteel at all; that when it was extended, it would come up the valley from the town some miles below Bonesteel, where the tracks lifted to the highlands. Meaning, of course that Dallas would be the only town in the newly opened portion of the country to get the railroad.

      Jean Baptiste and Bill had seeded all the land that was under cultivation on Baptiste's property, and were well under way of breaking what was left unbroken, when Baptiste was offered a proposition that looked good to him. It was 200 acres joining his place near Stewart's, the property of an Indian, the allotee having recently expired. Under a ruling of the Department of the Interior, an Indian cannot dispose of an allotment under twenty-five years from the time he is alloted. This ruling is dissatisfactory to the Indian; for, notwithstanding all the rôles in which he is characterized in the movies and dramas as the great primitive hero, brave and courageous, the people of the West who are surrounded with red men, and know them, know that they wish to sell anything they might happen to possess as soon as selling is possible. Therefore, when one happens to expire, leaving his land to his heirs who can thereupon sell, dispose, give away or do what they may wish with the land, as long as it accords with the dictates of the Indian agent, the tract of land in question can be expected to pass into other hands forthwith.

      The two hundred acres offered Jean Baptiste was convenient to his land, and was offered at twenty dollars per acre. Other lands about had sold as high as thirty dollars the acre. A thousand dollars down and a thousand dollars a year until paid was the bargain, and he accepted it, paying over the thousand, which was the last of the money he had brought from the East with him.

      This was before something happened that turned the whole country into an orgy of excitement.

      A few days after this one of the long rainy periods set in, and the little town was overrun with homesteaders, agreeing that the land that was broken was acting to their advantage: bringing all the good rains, and drought would never be again.

      Then one day a man brought the news. The surveyors were in Bonesteel. It was verified by others, and really turned out to be true. The surveyors being in Bonesteel was an evident fact that the railroad would follow the highlands and would not come up the valley, and that settled Dallas as a town. It was doomed before a stake was set, and here passes out of our story, in so far as a railway in its present location was concerned. But whatever route a railroad took, it meant that the value to a homestead by the extension of the railroad would approximate to exceed ten dollars per acre. And Jean Baptiste now owned five hundred and twenty acres.

      Since the work now in breaking the extra two hundred acres was before him, and was more than three miles from his homestead, he sought more convenience, by determining to approach the Stewarts with a request to board him.

      It was a rainy day, when he called, only to find Jack Stewart out, while George and Bill were tinkering about the barn. They had not been informed of his purchase.

      "Oh, it is you—Mr. Baptiste," cried Agnes upon opening the door in response to his knock. "Come right in."

      "Where's the governor?" he inquired when seated.

      "Search me," she laughed. "Papa's always out, rain or shine."

      "Busy man."

      "Yes. Busy but never gets anything by it, apparently."

      She was full of humor, her eyes twinkled. He was also. It was a day to be grateful. Rainfall, though it bring delay in the work, such days always are appreciated in a new country. It made those there feel more confident.

      "Lots of rain."

      "Yes. I suppose you are glad," she said interestedly.

      "Well, I should be."

      "We are, too. It looks as if, should this keep up, we will really raise a crop."

      "Oh, it'll keep up," he said cheerfully, confidently. "It always rains in this country."

      "How optimistic you are," she said, regarding him admiringly.

      "Thanks."

      She smiled then and bit her lip.

      "How's your neighbors across the road? I've never become acquainted with them."

      "Their name is Prescott. I don't know much about them; but papa has met them."

      "How many of them?"

      "Three. The man and wife and a son."

      "A son?"

      "M-m."

      "How old is he—a young man?"

      "M-m."

      He smiled mischievously.

      "Oh, it will be great," and she laughed amusedly.

      "He farms with his parents?"

      "I don't think so. He has rented a few acres on the place north of us. Don't seem to be much force."

      "You should wake him up."

      "Humph!"

      "My congratulations," irrelevantly.

      "Please don't. He's too ugly, too lazy; loves nothing but a stallion he owns, and is very uninteresting."

      "Indeed!" Suddenly he jumped up. "I have forgotten that I came to see your dad."

      "I can't say when papa will be home," she answered, going toward the door and looking out.

      "I wanted to see him regarding a little business about boarding. I wonder if he could board me?"

      "He'll be home about noon, anyhow."

      "That won't be so long, now," said СКАЧАТЬ