The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1922-04-14
THE INDIAN DRUM
By William Macfiarg and Edwin Balmer

ship had suffered serious disaster
Corvet was not yet rich, but unless
accident or undue competition inter
vened, he was certain to become So
Then something happened"
Sheriff. looked away at evident loss
how to describe it.
ITO the ships?" Alan asked him.
No; to him. In 1896. for no ap-
parent reason, a great change came
over him."
"In, 1861"
THAT was the year."
Alan bent forward, his heart throb-
bling in his throat. THAT was also
the year when I was brought and left
with the Weltons in Kansas" he said
Sheriff. did not speak for moment.
Il thought" he said finally, sit must
have been about that time; but you
did not tell my daughter the exact
date"
''What kind of change came over
him that year?" Alan asked.
Sheriff. gazed down at the rug. then
at Alan, then past him. "a change
in his way of living" he replied. 1.-THE
Corvet line of boats went on, ex-
banded; interests were acquired in
other lines; and Corvet and those
allied with him swiftly grew rich. But
in all this great development, for
which Corvet's genius and ability had
laid the foundation, Corvet himself
ceased to take active part. He took
into partnership, about year later,
Henry Spearman, young man who
had been merely mate on one of his
ships. This proved subsequently to
have been a good business move, for
Spearman had tremendous energy,
daring, and enterprise; and no doubt
Corvet had recognized these qualities
in him before others did. Since then
he has been ostensibly and publicly
the head of the concern, but he has
left tine management almost entirely
to Spearman. The personal change
to Corvet at that time is harder for
me to describe to you"
Sheriff. halted, his eyes dark with
thought, his lips pressed closely to-
gether; Alan waited.
"When / saw Corvet again, in the
summer of '96-I had been South dur
ing the latter part of the winter and
East through the spring. was i'm
pressed by the vague but, to me,
alarming change in him. was re-
minded, I recall, Of friend / had
had in college who had thought he was
in perfect health and had gone to an
examiner for life insurance and had
been refused, and was trying to deny
to himself and others that anything
could be the matter. But with Corvet
L knew the trouble was not physical.
The next year his wife left him."
"The year of-?' Alan asked.
"That was 1897. There was no
question of their understanding and
affection up to the very time she so
strangely left him. She died in France
in the spring of 1910, and Corvets
first information of her death come
to him through a paragraph in a
newspaper"
Alan had started; Sheriff. looked at
him questioningly.
"The spring of 1910" Alan ex-
planned, twas when 1 received the
bank draft for fifteen hundred
dollars"
Sheriff. nodded; he did not seem
surprised to hear this; rather it ap-
peared to be confirmation Of some
thing in his own thought.
Following his wife's leaving him."
Sheriff. went on, "Corvet saw very
little of any one. He spent most of
his time in his own house; occasion
ally he lunched at his club, at rare
intervals, and always unexpectedly, he
appeared at his Office 1 remember
that summer he was terribly dis
turbed because one of his ships was
lost. The Corvet record was broken /;
Corvet ship had appealed for help /;