The other shook his head.
"I'm plumb distracted to know what to do; and dear knows we all want to git shet of this job. Thar's a badger fight——"
"Where is this claim, anyway?"
"Right adown the road. Location notice is on the first white oak you come to. Cain't miss her."
"If I were you," said the stranger after a pause, "I'd just declare the claim vacant. Then neither side would win."
At this moment the jury rose to retire again. The stranger unobtrusively gained the attention of the clerk and from him begged a sheet of paper. On this he wrote rapidly, then folded it, and moved to the outer door, against the jamb of which he took his position. After another and shorter wait, the jury returned.
"Have you agreed on your verdict, gentlemen?" inquired the judge.
"We have," replied the lank foreman. "We award that the claim belongs to neither and be declared vacant."
At the words the stranger in the doorway disappeared. Two minutes later the advance guard of the rush that had comprehended the true meaning of the verdict found the white oak tree in possession of a competent individual with a Colt's revolving pistol and a humorous eye.
"My location notice, gentlemen," he said, calling attention to a paper freshly attached by wooden pegs.