The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1922-05-26
CHAPTER XII
The Land of the Drum.

The Land of the Drum.
Alan went with Wassaquam into the
front library. after the Indian had
shown Spearman out.
This was the man, Judah, who came
for Mr.. Corvet that night was hurt?'
Eyes, Alan" Wassaquam said.
"He was the man, then, who came
here twice a year, at least, to see Mr..
CorvetY
eyes"
81 was sure of It." Alan said. "Can
you tell me now why he came here,
Judah?"
81 have told you / 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 a chill of disappointment and
chagrin. They did not contain any
narrative concerning Benjamin Cor
vets life; they did not even relate to
single event. They were no MARIA
tive at all. They were-in his first
examination Of them, he could not tell
what they were.
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 and worn look, must be the old
est, and which must have been kept
for many years, contained only list
of names and addresses. The remain
Ing pages, which he counted as ten
In number, contained nearly a hum
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 it's face
dates made with many different pens
and with many different inks. but all
in the same irregular handwriting as
the letter which Alan had received
from Benjamin Corvet.
Alan, his fingers numb in his disap-
pointment, turned and examined all
these pages: but they contained moth
ing else. He read one of the clippings,
which was dated "Feb. 1912"
'"The 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 Emmett county in
1916. 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 well off at one time. Mr..
NNesthouse's three. brothers and his
father having persisted 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:
"Hallford- Spens. On Tuesday last
Miss Audrey Hallford. daughter of
Mr.. and Mrs. 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"
He read another:
Born to Mr.. and Mrs. Hal French.
daughter, Saturday afternoon last.
Miss Vera Arabella French, at her ar
rival weighed seven and one-half
pounds"
This clipping was Gated. In Benja-
min Corvet's hand, sturgeon Bay.
Wis.,. Aug. 1914" Alan put 1t aside
in bewilderment and amaze and took
up again the sheets he first had looked
at. The names and addresses on these
oldest, yellowed pages had been first
written, it was plain, all at the same
time and with the same pen and Ink,
and each sheet I'm the beginning had
contained seven or eight names. Some
of these original names and even the
addresses had been left unchanged,
but most of them had been scratched
out and altered many times-other
and quite different names had been
substituted; the pages had become
finally almost illegible. crowded
scrawis. rewritten again and again in
Corvet's cramped hand. Alan strained
forward, holding the first sheet to the
light.
Alan seized the clippings he had
looked at before and compared them
swiftly with the page he had just read !:
two of the -Westhouse and
French-were the same as those upon
this list. Suddenly he grasped the
other pages of the list and looked
them through for his own name but
II was not there. He dropped the
sheets upon the table and got up and
began to stride about the room.
He felt thar in this list and In these
cfinpings there must he sonaahau