"Well, will you please see that he does then? And, Billy, one thing more—how many acres did you tell me the other day there was as far as we can see?" and he waved his hand to the stretch below him.
"About fifteen thousand, sir."
"Well, that will do for a beginning. I'm going to settle here, Billy, permanently—all my life. I want you to start to-morrow and find out who owns, not only this fifteen thousand acres, but what lies next to it. I'm going to buy if I can, and you're the man to help me."
"But, Mr. Thayor," faltered the young woodsman.
"No—there are no buts. I am not buying timber land, you understand, in the ordinary way, to destroy it. I want this beautiful country to be my own. No," he added smiling, "our own, Billy. That's the better way to put it."
"I'll do my best," replied Holcomb simply, when he got his breath.
"It's a big purchase and I must go slowly."
"Then the sooner you begin on them, my boy, the better. I shall send my lawyer, Mr. Griscom, up to you immediately; he will see that we get fair play legally, but as to the question of what and what not to buy, I leave that entirely to your judgment; what money you need you have but to ask Mr. Griscom for."
"I'm afraid they will hold the tract at a high price, Mr. Thayor," said Holcomb.
"Whatever they hold it at within reason I'll pay," declared the millionaire.
"Then you'll have it," replied the young woodsman in a positive tone, "at the fairest figure I can get it for."