Malone

This is an action to quiet plaintiff’s alleged title to a tract of land containing 360 acres situate in the county of Del Norte, and known as the “Gordon ranch,” in which the judgment of the trial court was in favor of the plaintiff. Defendant appeals from the judgment, and from an order denying his motion for a new trial.

The plaintiff claims title to the land by a grant, bargain, and sale deed to him from the defendant, dated January 4, 1888, reciting a paid consideration of $7,532.50, which, upon its face, appears to be absolute. But the defendant contends that the deed was intended merely as security for a debt which defendant owed to plaintiff for money loaned by the latter to the former, and therefore that it is only a mortgage. The court found that the deed was not intended as security, but that it was *342 intended to be what it purports to be,— an absolute conveyance of the legal title. Does the evidence justify this finding, is the only question presented for decision.

Prior to the third day of January, 1888, the defendant did not have the legal title to the land, but had been in possession thereof several years, under a contract to purchase from one Gordon, to whom,…