The Dolores star., 1922-09-15
Copyright By Edwin Banner
CHAPTER Xx-Continued

benoamin Corvet and Captain Staf-
ford?"
Sheriff. thought n moment.
"Corvet," he replied. was n very
aoie man; he had insight and mental
grasp-and he had the fault which
sometimes goes with those, a hesltancv
of action. Stafford was an able man
100 considerably younger than Corvet.
twenty years ago, when the conflict
OF competing interests was at its
helght, Corvet was the head of one
line, Stafford was head of another and
the two lines had very much the same
connections and competed for the same
cargoes."
Il begin to see!" Father Perron ex-
claimed. please go on"
In the early nineties both lines still
were young; Stafford had, l believe,
two ships; Corvet had three"
so few? Yes; it grows plalner!"
IN 1894, Stafford managed n stroke
which, If fate had not Intervened, must
nave assured the ultimate extinction
of Corvets line or its absorption into
Staitord's. Stafford gained as his part
ner Franklin Ramsdell, n wealthy man
whom he had convinced that the lake
trailic offered chances OF great profit
and this connection supplied him with
the capital whose lack had been ham,
perinS him, as 1t was still hampering
| Corvet. The new firm-Stafford and
Ramsdell-prOjccted the construction,
with Ramsdell's money, of number
of great steel freighters. The first of
| these-the Miwaka, n test ship whose
experience was to guide them in the
| construction of the rcst-was launched
in the fall of 1895, and was lost on its
| Ramsdell aboard. The Stafford and
Ramsdell interests could not survive
the death Of both owners and disap-
peared from the lakes. Is this what
you wanted to know"
The priest nodded. Alan leaned
tensely forward, watching; what he
had heard seemed to have increased
and deepened the priests feeling over
what he had to tell and to have aided
his comprehension of it.
His name was Caleb Stafford" Fa-
ther Perron began. "(This is what
Benjamin Corvet told to me when he
was dying under the wreckage on the
| ferry) He was as fair and able a
man us the lakes ever knew. l had
my will of most men in the lake trade
In those days; but l could not have
my will of him. With all the lakes to
trade In, he had to pick out for his that
traffic which l already had chosen for
my own. But l fought him fair, Fa-
ther--I fought him fair. and l would
have continued to do that to the end.
"I was at Manistee, Father, In the
end of the season-December fifth of
1895. The ice had begun to form very
early that year and was already bad;
there was cold and high gale. had
laid up one of my ships at Manistee,
and l was crossing that night upon a
tug to Manitowoc. where another was
to be laid up. l had still third one
loading up on the northern peninsula at
Manlstique for last trip which, If it
could be made, would mean a good
profit from season which so far, be-
cause of StafforG's competition, had
been only fair After leaving Manis-
tee. 1t grew still more cold, and l was
afraid the ice would close In on her
and keep her where she was, so deter
mined to go north that night and see
that she got out. None knew, Father,
except those aboard the tug, that had
made that change.
"At midnight, Father, to westward
of the Foxes, we heard the four blasts
of q steamer in dstress-the four long
blasts which have sounded in my soul
ever SINCE! We turned toward where
we saw the steamers lights; we went
nearer and, Father, it was his great
ship-the Miwaka We had heard two
DAYS before that she had passed the
500 we had not known more than that
of where she was. She had broken her
new shaft, Father, and was intact ex-
cept for that, but helpless in the rising
The priest broke off. 1.-THE Miwaka
I did not understand all that that had
meant to him until just now-the new
ship of the rival line, whose building
meant for him failure and defeat!
.There is no higher duty than the
rescue of those in peril at sea. He
Benjamin Corvet, who told me this
swore to me that, at the beginning
none upon the tug had any thought ex-
cept to give aid. A small line was
drifted down to the tug and to this
hawser was attached which. they
hauled aboard. There happened then
A., anz+ ~ those events which led
those upon the tug into doing great
wrong. He-Benjamin Corvet-had
taken charge Of the wheel of the tug;
three men we're handling the hawser
IN ios and washing water at the stern.
The whistle accidentally blew. which
ehose on the Mlwaka understood to
mean that the hawser had been e.
eure,l 70 thsy drew IN the slack; tnA