Then he untied the package, selected an ink-stained and
faded document marked "Deed--John Carter to E. A. Barbour," and ran
his eye along the quaint page, reading as he went:--
Starting from an oak, blazed diamond C, along a line S. E. to a rock
marked C cross B, C+B, in all a distance of 1437 linear feet.
"Now, Chad, we will fust find the tree," said the judge, looking around
for his map-bearer. "Where's that nigger? Chad!"
The old man had disappeared as completely as if the earth had swallowed
him up. The next minute we heard a faint halloo below us near the edge
of a small swamp. A man was waving his hat and shouting:--
"Eve'ybody come yer!"
Fitz started on a run, and the agent and I followed on the double-quick.
At the end of a crooked stone wall, half surrounded by water, was a
great spreading oak, its branches reaching half way across the narrow
marsh. Within touching distance of the yielding ground stood Chad
pointing to a smooth blaze, stained and overgrown with lichen.
It bore this mark, [C in a diamond]!
"It tallies to a dot.
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