The Bemidji daily pioneer., 1922-03-21
Continued from last issue)
CHAPTER xi

/: s:s The, Land OF the Drum. -.
Alan went with Wassaquam into the
front library. after the Indian had
shown Spearman out. n
"This was the man, Judah, who came
for Mr.. Corvet that night I was hurtT'
"Yes, Alan." Wassaquam said.
HE was the man, then, who came
here twice q year, at least, to see Mr..
CorvetT .s# "'%<.,'s -.
"Yes." 4. RI =. .@, 80
II was sure Of IT," Alan said. "Can
you tell me now why he came here,
Judah" @'- f.. ~, =
II have told you I do not know"
Wassaquam replied. "Ben always saw
him; Ben gave him money. l DO not
know why"
Alan had been holding his hand over
the papers which he had thrust into
| his pocket; he went back into the
smaller library and spread them under
the reading lamp to examine them.
But, as he looked the pages over now,
he felt chill Of disappointment and
chagrin. They did not contain any
narrative concerning Benjamin Cor
yets life;. they did not even relate to
"A single event. They were no narra-
tive at ali. They swere-in his first
examination Of them, lie could not tell
what they were. r.,
=. They consisted in all Of some dozen
sheets of irregular size, some Of which
had been kept much; longer than 9TH
ers, a few Of which even appeared
fresh: and new. : The three pages
which Alan thought. from their yell
Lowed aud woRnalook. must be the old
est, and which must have been kept
for. many years, contained only list
| OF names and addresses. Tho remain
Ing, pages: which he counted as ten
Pin number, contained nearly a hun
dred brief clippings from newspapers;
/ the clippings had been very carefully
cut out, they had been pasted with
painful regularity, on the sheets. and
each had been dated across its face
4 dates made with '1nahy different pens
and with many different inks, but all
in the same frregularshandwriting, as
the letter which Alan had received
from BeI1jlmin Coryet.T ''"",s'&+.. -
Alan his fingers numb in his disap-
7! poiraren turned and examined all
these pagas < hut -shey continued moth
ing else. He read rne of the clippings,
which was dated; "Feh. ,19t2.''
"Thc passing away Of one Of the
oldest residents Of Emmett county oc-
cured at the poorfarm on Thursday
of last week. Mr.. Fred Westhouse
was one Of four brothers brought by
their parents into Emmet county in
1s46. He established himself here as
farmer and was well known among
our people for many years. he was
nearly the last Of his family. which
was quite we'll of at one time. Mr..
Westhouse's three brothers and his
father having perished in various dis
asters upon the lake. His wife died
two years ago. He Is survived BY a
daughter. Mrs. Arthur Pearl, Of Flint" }"
He read another: ;, Y
-Spens. On Tuesday last
Miss Audrey Hallford, daughter Of
Mr.. and Blrs. Bert Hallford, Of this
place. was united In the bonds Of holy
matrimony to Mr.. Robert Spens. Of
Escanaba. All wish the young couple
WELL" iE2 -,%.'rg ae ~.
He read another:
"Born to Mr.. and Mrs. Hal French
a daughter, Saturday afternoon last
Miss Vera Arabella French. at her ar
zNal weighed seven and one'nal1
pounds" + #a% ..%..:s .,&5...
This clipping Was dated, in BenJa'
min Corvet.s hand, '.Sturgeon Bay
Wls., Aug. 1914" Alan put it aside
In bswflderment and amaze and took
up axain the sheets he first had looked
at. The names and addresses on these
oldest, yenowed pages had been first
written. it was plain. all at the same
time and with the same pen and ink
and each sheet In the beginning hat
contained seven or eight names. Somt
Of these original names and even tht
addresses had been left unchanged
hut most OF them had been scratchet
out and altered many times-othe,
and quite different names had bee
substituted; the pages had becofn'
finally almost illegible, crowded
scrawls, rewritten again and again fl
Corvet's cramped hand. Alan straine'
forward, holding the first sheet to tn
light. #Ss.-5Z+ -. IT. e.
Alan seized tho clippings he ha'
looked ut before ind compared then
swiftly with the page he had just read
two OF the names-Westhouse an
French--were the same as those upo
this list. Suddenly, he grasped tn
other pages OF the list and locke
them through for his own name; bu
1t was not there He dropped tn
sheets upon the table and got up an
began to stride about the room..
He felt that i'll this list aud in thes
clippings there lpust be, somehow
some one general smeaning-they mus
= relate in some way to, one thing: the
!, y must have. deeply. Intensely .foieerl'e
Benjamin coryet's disappearance an
+ lis. present fate. What tevsr tlIat mizl