Albert said that he would like to pre-empt as soon as he should be of age, but that was some weeks off yet, and he supposed that when he got ready there would be few good claims left.

The matter of age was easily got over, replied Plausaby.  Quite easily got over.  Nothing easier, indeed.  All the young men in the Territory who were over nineteen had pre-empted.  It was customary.  Quite customary, indeed.  And custom was law.  In some sense it was law.  Of course there were some customs in regard to pre-emption that Plausaby thought no good man could approve.  Not at all.  Not in the least.

There was the building of a house on wheels and hauling it from claim to claim, and swearing it in on each claim as a house on that claim.  Plausaby, Esq., did not approve of that.  Not at all.  Not in the least.  He thought it a dangerous precedent.  Quite dangerous.  Quite so.  But good men did it.  Very good men, indeed.  And then he had known men to swear that there was glass in the window of a house when there was only a whisky-bottle sitting in the window.  It was amusing.  Quite amusing, these devices.  Four men just over in Town 21 had built a house on the corners of four quarter sections.  The house partly on each of the four claims.  Swore that house in on each claim.  But such expedients were not to be approved.  Not at all.  They were not commendable.  However, nearly all the claims in the Territory had been made irregularly.  Nearly all of them.  And the matter of age could be gotten over easily.  Custom made law.  And Albert was twenty-three in looks.  Quite twenty-three.  More than that, indeed.  Twenty-five, perhaps.  Some people were men at sixteen.  And some were always men.  They were, indeed.  Always men.  Always.  Albert was a man in intellect.  Quite a man.  The spirit of the law was the thing to be looked at.  The spirit, not the letter.  Not the letter at all.  The spirit of the law warranted Albert in pre-empting.

Here Plausaby, Esq., stopped a minute.  But Albert said nothing.  He detested Plausaby’s ethics, but was not insensible to his flattery.

“And as for a claim, Albert, I will attend to that.  I will see to it.  I know a good chance for you to make two thousand dollars fairly hi a month.  A very good chance.  Very good, indeed.  There is a claim adjoining this town-site which was filed on by a stage-driver.  Reckless sort of a fellow.  Disreputable.  We don’t want him to hold land here.  Not at all.  You would be a great addition to us.  You would indeed.  A great addition.  A valuable addition to the town.  And it would be a great comfort to your mother and to me to have you near us.  It would indeed.  A great comfort.  We could secure this Whisky Jim’s claim very easily for you, and you could lay it off into town lots.  I have used my pre-emption right, or I would take that myself.  I advise you to secure it.  I do, indeed.  You couldn’t use your pre-emption right to a better advantage.  I am sure you couldn’t.”