It was likewise easy
to determine that Ward, who had lived on his mountain farm, and
cultivated what he could, and had himself made shakes of his timber, but
who had blundered his formal processes, should be given a chance to make
good. But what of the doubtful cases? What of the cases wherein
apparently legality and equity took opposite sides?
Bob had adventures in plenty. For lack of a better system, he started at
the north end and worked steadily south, examining with patience the
pedigree of each and every private holding within the confines of the
National Forests. These were at first small and isolated. Only one large
tract drew his attention, that belonging to old Simeon Wright in the big
meadows under Black Peaks. These meadows, occupying a wide plateau grown
sparsely with lodgepole pine, covered perhaps a thousand acres of good
grazing, and were held legally, but without the shadow of equity, by the
old land pirate who owned so much of California. In going over both the
original records, the newer geological survey maps, and the country
itself, Bob came upon a discrepancy. He asked and obtained leave for a
resurvey.
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