Bemidji Daily Pioneer Newspaper, March 3, 1922, Page 2

e N INDIAN DRUM ' b William MacHarg /' Copy O CHAPTER 1. The Man Whom the Storm Haunted. Near the northern end of lLake | Michigan, where the bluff-bowed ore- | carriers and the big, low-lying, wheat- laden steel frelghters from Lake Su-! perior push cut from the Straits of Mackinac and dispute the right of way, in the island-divided channel, | with the white-nnd-gold. electric-light- | | od, wireless-equipped passenger stefin- | ers bound fbor Detroit amd Buff there s a copse of pine and hemtock | back from the shingly beach. Frow | this copse—dark, blue, primeval, silent | at most times ns when the Great Mani- | tou ruled his inland W —therc | comes at time of storm a sound lke | the booming of an old Indian drum. This drum beat, so the tradition sayx, | whenever the luke took u life; and. | as a sign perhaps that it ix still the | Mauiton who rules the waters In spite of all the commerce of the cities, the | drum still beal roll for every ship | lost on the lake, one beat for every life. So—mien say-—they heard and couut- ed the beatings of the drum to thirty- five upon the hour when, as afterward they learned, the great steel steamer Wenota sank with twenty-four of Its erew and eleven pussengers: so—men say-—they heard the requiem of the five who went down with the schooner Qrant; and of the seventeen lost with the Susan Hart: and s ships more. Ouce only. it Is told, has the drum counted wrong. At the leight of the great storm of | Pecember, 1805, the drum beat the roll of a sinking ship. One, two, _three—the hearers counted the drum heats, time and again, in thelr inter- mitteat boowming, to twenty-four. They walted. therefore, for report of a ship ! lost with twenty-four Hves: no such news came, The new steel freighter Miwaka, on her walden trip during the storm with twenty-five—not twen- ty-four—aboard never made her port; no'news was ever heard from her: no wreckage ever was found. On this ac- count, throughout the families whose fathers, brothers and sons werd the ) officers and crew of the Miwaka, there | stirred for a time a desperate beltef that one of the men on the Miwaka was saved ; that somewhere, somehow. ’ he was alive and might return. The dny of the destruction of the Miwaka was fixed ng December 5 by the time at which she passed the government lookout at the stralts; the hour was fixed as tive o'clock in the morning only by the sounding of the drum. e e e s . el N Storm—the stinging, frozen sleet | stash of the Februnry norther whis-| tling down the floe-Jammed length of the luke—was assaulting Chicago, 8o leavy was this frost on the punes of | the Fort Denrborn club—-one of the | staldest of the down-town clubs for | men—that the great log tires blazing | an the open henrths added appreeinble | light us well ag warmth to the rooms. | | The few wmembers present at this i hour of the nfternoon shov by their | Inzy attitudes and the desultoriness of thelr conversation the dulling of K vitality whlch warmth and shelter bring on n day of cold and storm. On one, however, the storm had had a con- i tenty effect. With swift, unoven st e paced noW one room, now anothe from time to time he stopped ab- sruptly by n window, scraped from it with finger nail the frost, stared out for an Instant through the little open- ing he had made, then resumed as ab- | v ruptly his nervous pacing with a man- .ner so unensy and distraught that, | since his arrival at the club an howr hetore, none even among those who Kknew him best had ventured to speak | to him, The wan who was pacing restles ynnd alone the rooms of the Fort Dea _horn club on this stormy afternoon " was the man who, to most peopte, bod- fed forth the life underlying all other| commerce - therenbouts but the least | known, the life of the lakes. The lakes, which wmark unmistak-| ' ably those who get their living from them, had pnt theiv marks on him.; ‘hough he wos slight In frame with a ! spare, alwost nscetic lennness, he had the wiry strength and endurauce of the man whose youth had been passed | 3 upon the water. He was very close | 1o sixty now, but his thick, straight | 4 halr was still jet black except for i slush of pure white above uhe temple s brows were black above his deep | ;| blue eyes. His acquaintances, in ex- ! #® plaining him to straugers, <aid he had lived too much by himself ot Iy | and one mun servant shared the great | house which had been unchanged—-and | K i fn which nothing appeared to ||n\x'i needed replacing—sinee his wife ioft him, suddenl; and unaccountahly, & about twenty years before. TPeople 2 safd he looked wore French, referr | to his father who was known to have heen a skin-unter north of Luke perior in the *i0s but who Iater mars i | of great steamers under the naumes of ! from fits of Intense irritability, and | these of late had increased In fre- | sentences. and Edwin Balmer right by Edwin Balmer — S F == At ried an English girl at Mackinac and settled down to become a trader in the woods of the North peninsula, where Benjamin Corvet was born. Durlng his boyhood men cume to the peninsula to cut timber; young Corvet worked with them and began building ships. Thirty-five years ago he had been only one of the hundreds with his fortune In the fate of a single bot- tom; but toduy in Clevelund, in Du- Juth, in Chicago, more than a score various interdependent companies were owned or controlled by him and his two partners, Sherrill and young Spearman. He was a quiet, gentle-mannered man. At times, however, he suffered quency and violence. Tt had been no- ticed that these outbursts oceurrgd | generally at tiwes of storm upon the lake, but the mere threat of financial loss through the destruction of one or even more of his ships was not now cnough to cause them; It was believed that they were the result of some ob- scure physical reaction to the storm, | and that this had grown upon him as he grew older. Today his Irritability was so marked, his uneasiness much greater than anyone had seen it be- | fore, that the attendant whom Corvet had sent. 1 halt hour enrlier, to re- serve his usual table for him in the grill—=The tuble by the second win- dow"—hnd started away without dar- ing to ask whether the table was to he set for one or more. Corvet him- self had corrected the owission: “For two,” he had shot avter the man. The ‘tables, this hour, were all unoceupled. Corvet ssed to the one he had reserved and sat down: he turned immediately to the window | at his side und seraped on it a little eclear opening through which he could gee the storm outside, Ten minutes later he looked up sharply but did not rlse, us the maun he had been await- S0 tng—Spenrman, the younger of his two partners—eame h. penrman seated himself, his big, powerful hands clasped on the table, Nis gray eyes studying Corvet closely. The waiter took the order and went away. When he returned, the two men were obviously in bitter quarrel. Corvet's tone, low pitched but vielent, sounded steudlly in the room, though his words were innudible, The waiter, as he set the foad upon the table, felt relief that Corvet's outburst had fallen on other shoulders than his, For nearly an hour the quarrel con- tinued with intermitted truces of si- For Nearly an Hour the Quarrel Con- tinued, With Intermitted Truces of Silence. lence. 'The waiter, listenlng, as walt- ors always do, caught at times siugle “You huve had that ldea for some time?” he heard from Corvet. “We hive had an understanding for more than a month” “How deflaite? Spearman's aus T was not audible, but it more intensely agitated Corvet: e dvopped his tork and, nfter that, made no pretense of eating. The waiter,-following this, caught only single wonds, - “Shertill™—that, of course, was the other partner. “Con- stance™—that was Sherrill's daughter: ‘The other names he heard were names of ships. But, as the quarrel went on, the manners of the two men changed ; Spearman, who at first had been as- salled by Corvet, now was assailing him. Corvet sat back in his sent, while Spearman pulled at his cigar and | fully a quarter of n mile beyoud it; now and then took it from his lips and gestured with it between his fingers, Yas he Jerked some ejaculation across the table. Corvet leaned over to the frosted window, as he had done when alone, and looked out. Spearman shot a com- ment which made Corvet wince and draw back from the window; then Spearman rose. Corvet looked up at him once and asked a qyuestion, to which Spearman replied with a snap of the burnt match down on the table; he turced abruptly and strode from the room. Corvet sat motionless, The revulsion to self-control, sume- times even to apology, which ordima- rily followed Corvet's bursts of irrita- tion had not come to him; his agita- tion plainly had Jucreused. He pushed from him his uneaten luncheon and got up slowly. He went out to the coat rvom, where the attendant haud- ed him his cout and hat. He winced as he stepped out into the smarting, blinding swirl of sleet, but his shrinking was not ph was mental, the unconscious reaction to some thought the storm called up. The hour was barely four o'clock, but so dark was it with the storm that the shop windows were lit: motorcars, slipping and skidding up the broad boulevard, with headlights burning. kept their signals clattering con- stantly to warn other drivers blindel by the snow. The slect-swept Side- walks were almost deserted; here or there, before a hotel or one of the shops, a limousine came to the curb. and the passengers dashed swiftly across the walk to shelter. Corvet turned northward aloug Michiznu avenue, facing into the gale. The sleet beat upon his face aud lodged in the folds of his clothing without his heeding it. He continued to o north. He had not seemed, in the beginning. to have made conscious cholce of this diree hut now he was following it pur- He stopped once at a shop which sold men's things to wmuke a tel- ephone call. He asked for Miss Sher- rlll when the number answered: but he did not wish to speak to her, he sald: he wanted merely to be sure she would be there if he stopped in to see her in half an hour. Then—novth ugain. He crossed the bridge. Now, fifteen minutes later, he came in sight of the lake once 1 Great hous the Sherrill house among them, here face the Drive, the bridle path, the strip of park, and the wide stone esplannde which edges the | lake. Covert crossed to this esplu- nude. He did not stop at the Sheerill house or look toward it, hut went on then he came back, and with an oddly | strained and queer expression aud at- titude, he stood staring out into the lak { Suddenly he turned. Constance ! Sherrill, seeing him from a window of her home, had caught a cape about her und run out to him. “Uncle Bepuy!"” she hailed bim with the affectionate name she bad used with her father's partner since she was a baby. “Uncle Beuny, aren't you coming in? " he said vaguely. “Yes, of course.”” He made no move but re mained staring ut her. “Connle!” he exclaimed suddenly, with strange re- proach to himself in his tone. “Con- nie! Dear little Connie!" “Why?" she asked him . “Uncle Beuny, what's the matter?” “Has Spenrman heen here today?" he asked, not looking at her. o see father?” 0; to see you." “No." He selzed her wrist. “Dou't see him. when he comes!" he commanded. nele Ben, . Don't see him!" Corvet repeated. “He's asked you to marry him, hasn't he?? Geunie could not refuse the answer. “Y And yon?” “Why—why, Uncle Benoy, I haven't answered him yet.” “Then don’t—don’t, do you under- stand, Connle?” She hesitated, frightened for him. “I'll—TN tell you before I see him, If fou want me to, Uncle Benny,” she granted. “But If you shouldn’t be able to tell me then, Connle; If vou shouldn't— want to then?” ‘The hurnaility of his look perplexed her; it he had been any other man—any man except Unele Benny—she would have thought sonie shameful and terrifying threat huug over him: but he broke off sharply, “Umust go home,” he sald uncertatuly “I must go home; then T'll come back, Connie, you won't give him an answer UILT come back, will you?" " He got her promise, half frightened, half bewildered; then h¢ turned at once and went swiftly nway from her. She van back to the door of her fa- ther's house. From there she saw hint reach the corner and turn west to go 1o Astor street. He was walking rap- idly and did not hesitate, How strangely he had acted! Con- | stanee’s uncasiness increased when the afternoon and ovening passed without his coming back toe see her as he had promised, but she reflected he hal not set any definite time when shp was to expect him, During the night her anxiety grew still greater; and In the morning she called hig house up on the telephone, but the call was unanswered. Aa hour iater, she called again: “til getting no result, sho called lier father at his office, and told hitu of her anxiety about Utcie 'Benn:, but without repeating what Uncle Benny had said 1o her or the promise she had made to him. Her fa- ther made light of her fears; Uncle Renny, he reminded her, often acted queerly in bad weather. Only partly renssured, she called Uncle. Benny's house several more times during the morning, but still got no reply; and after luncheon she called her father dgain, to tell him that she had re- solved to,get some one to go over to the housé with her. Her ruglier, to her surprise, forbade this rethér sharply: his volee, she realized, agitated and excited, and she asked him the reason; but lustead of answering her, he made her repeat to him her conversation of the after- noon before with Uncle Beouy, and now he questioned her closely about it. But when she, in her tuin, tried to question him, he merely put her off and told her not to worr, In the late afternoon. as dusk was drawing into dark, she stood at the window, with one of those delusive hopes which come during anxiety that, because it was the time of day at which she had seen Uncle Benny walk- ing by the lake the day before, she might see him there aga when she saw her father's motor approuching. 1t was coming from the north, not from the sonth as it would have been it he'was coming from his office or his elub, and it had turoed into the Drive from the west. She knew, therefore, that he was comifig from Unele Ren- *s house, and, as the car swerved and wheeled in, she ran out into the hall to meet him. . ;i He came in without taking off or coat: she could see that he was perturbed, zreatly wted, What is it, father’ “What has happened “I (o not know, my dear “It is something mething has happened to Uncle Bes “1 am afrald so. dear—y o not know what it is that pered, or T would tell you.” He put his arm about ber and drew her into a room opening off the hall— his study. He made her repeat again to him the conversation she had had with Uncle Benny and tell him how he had scted: but she saw that what she twld him did not help him. Then he drew her toward him, “Tell we, little daughter. You have been a great deal with Uncle Benny and have talked with him; I that But 1 as hap- [CN She Thought. “No, Father.” waut you to think carefully. Did you ever hear him speak of any one called Alan Conrad Sbhe thought. *“Ne, father. Ne reference either (o any living In Kansas, or a town colted Riue Rapids?” “Ne, father. Who is Alan Conrad?” [ dv not know, dear. 1 never heard the name, until to-day, and Harry spearman had never heard it. But it appears to he intimately conneeted in some way with what was troubling Unele Benuy yesterday. Ie wrote o lotter yesterday to Alan Conrad in Blue Raplds and mailed it himself: and afterward he tried to get it back. but it already had been taken up und was on Its way. I have not been able to learn anything more about the letter thun: that, To-day that name, Alan Conrad, came to me in quite another way, in a way which makes it certain that it is closely connected with what. ever has happened to Uncle Benny. You are quite sure you never heard him mention it. Gear?” “Quite =ure, {ather. He releused her and and coat, went swiftly up the stairs, She rvan after him and found him standing before a highboy in his dress- ing room. He unlocked a drawer in the higthboy, and from within the drawer he took a key. Then, still dis- one there regarding her, he burrled back down- | staivs, As she followed him, she caught up a wrap aid pulled it around her. He hal_tolt the chnuffeur, she renllzed now, to wait: but as he reached the door, he turned and stopped her, “ weald rather you Qld not come with =me, lttle daughter. kaow ar all what it is that has hap- pened—T1 wiil let you know ax soon as 1 tind out!’ The Gnality b his tone stopped her from arenment. As the house door and then the door of {he linousine closed ter him. she went b toward the window, slowly taking off the wrap, For tiie moment she found it difticult to think. Something had happen Uncele Benuy, something dread) for those who foved hiw: that wes plaly, though only the fact g . THE BEMIDJI DAILY PIONEER ™% she demanded. | { | The county attorney’s oflice has 1 do not | . |er in Bemidji Tuesday. ! and not its nature was known to her i or to her father; and that something | was connected—intimately connected, her father had said—with a nawme 1 Which no one who _knew Uncle Benny ie\'er heard before, with the name of | Alan Conrad of Blue Rapids, Kansas. Who was this Alan Conrad, and what could his connection be with Uncle | ::Immy S0 to precipltate disaster upon m? (Continued In Next 1ssue) FROHN . for a few days, is able to be u in. “Mrs. Peter Narum wag :.'fifi? L0 Farris last Monday on account of the sAeria\ls illness of her ‘mother, Mus | . Boe, \ ¥ Mr. and Mrs. Anton :Kolkin ; wot guests at the Nels Willett home last Sunday. . E. F. Hensel returned home after spending the last two weeks ai the home of his brother Eugene Hense! of Bemidji. left for Grand Cornel Holman Meadows in the southern :part of the | state about a week 2go. where he was called on account of the serious .ll-| ness of his mother, Mr. Holman’ fa.\mnly received word from him that bis mother's condition was somewhat | improved. | The final spelling contest of dis- triets No. 71, and 8 was held in the school house of district 89 last Friday. Lenora Paulson of district | 8 the winner, and wiil go to Be-| midji to spell in the county contest. | { Mr. and Mrs, Eugen: Hensel and | ibaby Irene of Bemidji drove out to| the home of Mrs. Hensel’s mother, Mus, Christina Johnson, last Sunday where Mrs. Hensel will visit for a week. Mr. and Mrs. S. C. Smith and chi.- dren visited at the Albert Grof homc | last Sunday. | Mr. and Mrs. Anton Kolkin and son | Albert and daughter Mathilda were Bemgdji callers last Saturday. . Miss_Esther Erlberg called on her; sister, Mrs. John Dolburn last Friday. The Frohn Equitable Farmers club and the Women's Sunshine ciub w:ll meet at the C. Vincent home next Sui- Everyone in the township in- terested for or against the consolidat: {ed school is urged to be present |consolidation will be the main topi { of the meeting. { | Hugo Hensel, Jr., run dowa a woif and killed it with a club last Tues- day. Hugo declares that it would be Igood exercise for a prize fighter but not for a farmer. S. S. King and Gust Beérg have a crew of men cutting off 40 acres for lath bolts and wood which they sold {to the Bemidji Manufacthring com-} pany. | " Mrs. L. P. Evans called on Mrs | Peter Narum last Sundey. ! PARK RAPIDS been quite a busy place during the last week. Two in jail for 60 > cne_sent to Sauk Center, and one| professional man to pay $10 and costs or 90 days in jail ought to puc a iittle halt on the lawlessness of th toys and girls. Webter says he w clean things up if he can have the : formation. ‘tne probabilities are now good fur| a fish hatchery here to be built the coming summer. The state wardei met with the Commercial club mem- bers and expressed a wish to put one in as soon as possible. 'T'wo sites ave | proposed: one at the inlet of Fish- o T T P IT I T OT the other a little below the power house in the village. Either one will :e Isacisfactory if a good title can be ad. The roads have been opened pretty | well since the storm of last week, and | farmers are beginning to come in now h loady quite freely. Automobiles the question as the snow is so loose there is no foundation to tie to. About six inches of snow fell but the wind piled it 20 feet high in some places. All who ever knew G. E. Carson arve greotly pleased over his prospect of recovery. Everyone of his friends ave hoping for his speedy restoration to health. The village has purchased the point {of land at the outlet of Fishhook {lake between that and the river and will ulf e are very 3 make a valuable addition in that line. | SOLWAY George Rosback returned from Be- midji last weck to complete his work on the Solway consolidated schoot. | Mr. Rosback installed the furnace| i there and also other tin work. e has been with us the last couple of | | months. Dosena Peterson returned to her| work again at the store Monday rmorn- | ing, after being confined to her home | for three or four days. | A number of {friends surprised Mrs. C. M. Peterson on her GUilL | birthday last Thursday, Feb. 23. The self invited guests served lunch in tne lafternoon. Those present were Mrs. Grinols, Mrs. Solt, Mrs. Wold, Mr Bye,.Mrs, Lindell and Mrs, O. Pow- ers, all went away wishing her many happy returns of the day. The Solway school children visited Wilton last Friday in a spelling con- test. Selway won in both oral and| written with the exception of the fourth graders. Solways best spell- ¢crs were Charlotte Rogers, Lola Te- we't ond Margaret Lage. Victor Larson and Lee Sime were| Behuwugs suoppers last Saturday. Alfred Johnson went to Bemiq)i last Monday to receive bounty on a wolf which he shot near his home. | Alfred Fossand made a livery trip | {to Solway last Monday. \ Nels Sorenson_was a Bemidji bus- linesg caller last Frida s | Snow plow No. 3’ plowed out the main line and sidings here Tuesday, | it was at work for about half an _hm.r; ihere piling snow several feet high. | C. M. Peterson was a business caii- | Martin Dille transferred feed ana! flowr to Pinewood Tuesday and Wed- | nesday. < 1 Julius Fredrickson, Lee Sime and Claud ‘Colburn, who was very sick| hook lake just below the locks and |3 from the country are almost out of | § i e e e Victor Larson went to Bemidji Tus dn% evening to attend the Elks’ play. ina Gustafson 'visited with her parents over Sunday and resumed her ;choul work again at Bemidji Mon- ay. Henry Dille and Charles Rogers were loading pulp wood for C. I Rogers last Tuesday. BALSAM for thar COUGH / s IN TINS . ASK YOUR GROCER, . IN LOAVES , Poiar Pie Made From Langdon’s Sanitary Ice Cream POLAR PIE The Popular Ice Cream Bar. —-ASK FOR IT— Try Our Service Under The New Management American and Chinese Dishes Expert chefs have been secured and the cafe will be first ctass in every respect. Clean and properly prepared served and courteous Yireatment, will be features always Your trade is solicited foods well found here. and wiil be appreciated. Mandarin Cafe ——SECOND STREET—— W. H. SHORT, Manager LANGDON MANUFACTURING CO. Shop Patrons We will, however, continue serving SALADS SANDWICHES ICE CREAM SODAS AND ALL FOUNTAIN DRINKS Lycan & " AMUMIMnmnRRannee L % g 2977, ora(C *Why—thesun of course” you will say. But remember—you can hold the cent so close to your eye that you lose sight of the sun. Some baking powders can be bought for a few perinies less than Calumet — but don’t hold these cents too close to your eyes—you will not be able to see the quality —the purity—the dependabilityof CALUMET BAKING POWDER In other words, don’t be de- ceived by a few pennies — the cheapest baking powder in price is often the most expensive. When you buy Calumet you know that it will produce pure, sweet, and wholesome bakin; You know that you use less cause it contains more than the ordinary leavening strength. Buy it—try it—be convinced. A pound can of Calumet contains full 16 ounces. Some baking powders ome in QLT T LT T G LR LR B T A Notice To Coffee We regret to announce that we will discontinue our mcal service after Sunday, March 5th. PASTRY BN BRI U T TR RTINS s %