The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Whirligigs by O. Henry: The firm was pressing the Commissioner to issue a
patent upon their location. They possesed inside infor-
mation concerning a new railroad that would probably
pass somewhere near this land.
The General Land Office was very still while the Com-
missioner was delving into the heart of the mass of evi-
dence. The pigeons could be heard on the roof of the
old, castle-like building, cooing and fretting. The clerks
were droning everywhere, scarcely pretending to earn
their salaries. Each little sound echoed hollow and loud
from the bare, stone-flagged floors, the plastered walls, and
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