This happened at just half-past four o'clock, and when the file clerk took the files he threw them in a pile in his room, came out and locked the door. The clerks were moving out of the doors in long, straggling lines. It was closing time. Sharp did not desire to take the file from the Land Office. The boy might have seen him place the file in his pocket, and the penalty of the law for such an act was very severe. Some distance back from the file room was the draftsman's room now entirely vacated by its occupants. Sharp dropped behind the outgoing stream of men, and slipped slyly into this room. The clerks trooped noisily down the iron stairway, singing, whistling, and talking. Below, the night watchman awaited their exit, ready to close and bar the two great doors to the south and cast. It is his duty to take careful note each day that no one remains in the building after the hour of closing. Sharp waited until all sounds had ceased. It was his intention to linger until everything was quiet, and then to remove the certificate from the file, and throw the latter carelessly on some draftsman's desk as if it had been left there during the business of the day. He knew also that he must remove the certificate from the office or destroy it, as the chance finding of it by a clerk would lead to its immediately being restored to its proper place, and the consequent discovery that his location over the old survey was absolutely worthless. As he moved cautiously along the stone floor the loud barking of the little black dog, kept by the watchman, told that his sharp ears had heard the sounds of his steps. The great, hollow rooms echoed loudly, move as lightly as he could. Sharp sat down at a desk and laid the file before him. In all his queer practices and cunning tricks he had not yet included any act that was downright criminal. He had always kept on the safe side of the law, but in the deed he was about to commit there was no compromise to be made with what little conscience he had left. There is no well-defined boundary line between honesty and dishonesty. The frontiers of one blend with the outside limits of the other, and he who attempts to tread this dangerous ground may be sometimes in one domain and sometimes in the other; so the only safe road is the broad highway that leads straight through and has been well defined by line and compass. Sharp was a man of what is called high standing in the community. That is, his word in a trade was as good as any man's; his check was as good as so much cash, and so regarded; he went to church regularly; went in good society and owed no man anything. He was regarded as a sure winner in any land trade he chose to make, but that was his occupation. The act he was about to commit now would place him forever in the ranks of those who chose evil for their portion--if it was found out.