"But isn't he their accredited agent?" queried our hero. "They would be bound by his act."
"Agent be hanged!" quoth the pioneer impetuously. "This allotment belongs to me; have I a right therefore to sell the whole town? Though, between you and me, there are men in business here who would have a try at it, if they could delude one of you innocent new arrivals into taking his word and paying over the cash."
"I trust I'm not quite so innocent," replied Massinger, smiling, "as to make purchases without due inquiry."
"Depends upon whom you inquire from," said his experienced friend. "Advice is cheap, or rather dear enough, when the giver has an axe to grind."
"Then how am I to find out, if no one is to be trusted in this Arcadia of yours?"
"Devilish few that I know of," rejoined the senior. "The Government officials and the Land Commissioners are, perhaps, the safest. They have some character to lose, and are fairly impartial."
"After what you have said, may I venture to ask counsel from you?"—instinctively trusting the open countenance and steady eye of the pioneer.
"Oh! certainly; you needn't take it, of course. Don't be in a hurry to invest; that's my first word. The next, buy from the Government; they have a title—that is, nearly always—and are bound to support you in it."
"But suppose their title is disputed? What will they do?"