Licking Valley courier., 1922-03-23

ably those who get their living from
them, had put their marks on him.
Though he was slight in frame with a.
spare, almost ascetic leanness, he had
the wiry strength and endurance of
the man whose youth had been passed
upon the water, He was very close
to sixty now, but his thick, straight
hair was still Jet black except for a
slash Of pure white above one temple;
his brows were black above his deep
blue eyes. His acquaintance, In ex.
planning him to strangers, said he had
lived too much by himself of late; he
and one man servant shared the great
house which had been unchanged
In which nothing appeared to have
needed replacing-slnce his wife left
him, suddenly and umceountably,
about twenty years before. People
said he looked more French, referring
to his father who was known to have
been a skin-hunter north Of Lake Su.
perior In the SOS but who later mar
rled an English girl at Macklnac and
settled down to become q trader In the
woods of the North peninsula, where
Benjamin Corvet was born.
During his boyhood men came to the
peninsula to cut timber; young Corvet
worked with them and began building
ships. Thlrty-five years ago he had
been only one OF the hundreds with
his fortune In the fate Of single bot
tom but today In Cleveland, In Du'
luth, In Chicago, more than a score
Of great steamers under the names Of
various interdependent companies
were owned or controlled by him and
his two partners, Sheriff. and young
spearman,
He was a quiet, gentle-mannered
man. At times, however, he suffered
from fits OF intense lrrltability, and
these OF late had increased In fire.
quency and violence. 1t had been no.
tlced that these outbursts occurred
generally at times 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
enough to cause them; II was believed
that they were the result of some OBJ
scure physical reaction to the storm,
and that this had grown upon him as
he grew older.
Today his irrltablllty was so
marked, his uneaslness so much
greater than anyone had seen It be-
fore, that the attendant whom Corvet
had sent, a half hour earlier, to re-
serve his usual table for him In the
grlll-"The tnble by the second win
dow"-had started away without dar-
ing to ask whether the table was TO
be set for one or more. Corvet HIM
self had corrected the omission; "For
two" he had shot after the man,
The tables, at this hour, We're all
unoccupied Corvet crossed to the
one he had reserved and sat down;
he turned Immediately to the window
ut his side and scraped on II little
clear opening through which he could
see the storm outside. Ten minutes
later he looked up sharply but did not
rise, as the man he had been await.
lng-Spearman, the younger OF his
two partners-came In.
Spearman seated himself, his big
powerful hands clasped on the table,
his grny eyes studying Corvet closely,
The waiter took the order aud went
away.
When he returned, the two men were
obviously in bitter quarrel, Corvet's
tone, low pitched but violent, sounded
steadily In the room, though his words
were inaudlble. The waiter as he set
the food 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 intermltted truces ~ sl-
lence. The waiter, listening, as walt
ers always do, caught at times single
sentences.
"You have had that lden for some
time" he heard from Covet.
1--WE have had I'm understanding for
more than II MONTH"
"llcw dennlte1"
spenrmnn's answer was not audible,
Continued on page 81