The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1922-04-07

ally he lunched at his club, ut rare
intervals, and always unexpectedly, he
appeared at his office. I remember
that summer he was terribly dis
turbed because one Of his ships was
lost. The COrvet record was broken /;
a Corvet ship had appealed for help;
a COrvet vessel had not reached port.
. And later In the fall, when two
deckhands were washed from another
of his vessels and drowned, he was
again greatly wrought UP, though his
ships still had a most favorable record.
In 1902 | proposed TO him that | buy
full ownership in the vessels | partly
controlled and ally them with those
he and Spearman operated. Since
then, the firm name has been Corvet,
Sheriff., and Spearman.
"Our friendship had strengthened
and ripened during those years. The
intense activity of COrvet's mind,
which as a younger man he had dl-
rectcd wholly to the shipping, was
directed, after he had isolated himself
in this way, to other things. He took
up almost feverishly an immense num-
Der of studies-strange studies most
of them for a man whose youth had
been almost violently active and who
had once been a lake captain. | can
not tell you what they all we're
geology, e~thnOlOgy, nearly Il score OF
subjects; he correspondent with vari-
~, Cni,ptiE, o,n;ntioc. hn hoc uixnD
almost the whole of his attention to
such things for about twenty years.
But he has made very few acquaint-
anceS in that time, and has kept
almost none of his old friendships.
He has lived alone in the house on
Astor street with only II servant
the same one all these years.
THE only house he has visited with
any frequency has been mine. He has
always liked my wife; he had-he has
a great affection for my daughter, who,
when she was Il child, ran in and out
of his home as she pleased. My
daughter believes now that his present
disappearance-whatever has hap
pencd to him-is connected in some
way with herself. / do not think that
is So"
Sheriff. broke off and stood in
thought for Il moment ne seemed to
consider, and to decide that it was
not necessary to say anything more
on that subject.
us there anything In what I have
told you which makes 1t possible for
you to recollect or to %eXplain?"
Alan shook his head, flushed, and
then grew a little pale. What Sheriff.
told him had excited him by the coin
cidences it offered between events in
Benjamin Corvet's life and his own
it had not made him "recollect'
COrvef, but it had given definitenesS
and direction to his s~peculations as
to CorVet's relation to himself.
Sheriff. drew one of the large chairs
nearer to Alan and sat down facing
him. He felt in an inner pocket and
brought out an envelope; from the en-
velope he took three pictures, and
handed the smallest Of them to Alan.
AS Alan took it, he saw that it was
Il tintyle OF himself as a round-faced
boy of seven.
'"That is you?" Sheriff. asked.
Eyes; it was taken by the photog-
rapher in Blue Rapids"
"And this?'
The second picture, Alan saw, was
one that had been taken in front of
the barn at the farm. 1t showed Alan
at twelve, in Overalls and ~barefOoted,
holding a stick over his head at which
a shepherd dog was jumping.
Eyes, that is Shep and I, Mr.. Sher-
rill. 1t was taken by a man who
stopped at the house for dinner one
day; he liked Shep and wanted a
picture of him so he got me to make
Shep jump, and he took It,"
doesn't it occur to you that it was
your picture he wanted, and that he
had been sent to get 1t? / wanted
your Notification that these earlier
pictures were of you, but this last ole
is easily recognizable"
Sheriff. unfolded the third picture /;
IL sS d SSl lIdl tiiC w lllu lidu
been folded across the middle to get
it into the envelope. Alan leaned for
ward to look ut il.
"That is the University Of Kansas
football team" he said. Il am the
second one in the front row; | played
end my junior year and tackle when
| was q senior. Mr.. COrvet-f'
Eyes; Mr.. Corvet had these pictures.
They came into my possession day be-
fore yesterday, the day after Corvct
disappeared | do not want 10 tell just
yet how they did that"
Alan's face, which had been flushed
at first with excitement, had gone
quite pale. and his hands, as he
clenched and unclenched them nerv-
ously, were cold, and his lips were
very dry. He could think Of no pos
sible relationship between Benjamin
Corvet and himself, except one, which
could account for Corvet's obtaining
and keeping these pictures of him