The Meeker herald., 1922-06-10
CHAPTER !.

The Man Whom the Storm Haunted.
Near the northern end Of Lake
Michigan, where the bluff-bowed ore
BARRIERS and the big. low-lying. wheat
laden steel freighters from Lake su-
terior push out from the Straits OF
Nackinac and dispute the right or
Gay, In the standardized channel.
9th the white.and-gold. 'electrtc-light'
"a, wireless equipped passenger stean-
'es bound for Detroit and Buffalo.
there Is copse Of pine and hem!ock
Pack from the shIngiy beach. From
thls copse-dark. blue, primeva'. silent
Ct most times ms when the Great Mani
tou ruled his inland waters-there
comes at time OF storm n sound like
the booming Of mn old Indian drum.
1rhis drum beat, 80 the tradition says,
whenever the lake took a life; and.
= sign perhaps that It Is still the
Manitou who rules the waters In spite
r all the commerce Of the cities. the
rum still beats Its roll for every ship
lost on the lake. one beat for every
ufe.
HSo-men say-they heard and count
ave upon the hour when, as afterward
they learned. the great steel steamer
ivenota sank with twenty-four OF It's
new and eleven passengers; so-men
ay-they heard the requiem Of the
ere who went down with the schooner
Qrant; and Of the seventeen lost with
he Susan Hart md so Of score or
r,hips more. Once only. 1t is told. has
Ae drum counted wrong.
At the height Of the great storm Of
flecember, 1895, the drum beat the
.oal Of a sinking ship. One. two.
.hree-the henrers counted the drum
leafs, time and again. In their inter-
nlttent booming. to twenty.four. They
Waited, therefore. for report Of ship
vst with twenty-four lives; no such
Jews came. The new steel freighter
kiwaka, on her maiden trip during
NE storm with twenty-fve-nOt twen-
y-four-nboard never mnde her port;
70 news was ever heard from her; no
Sreckage ever was found. On this ac-
.opnt, throughout the families whose
fathers, brothers md sons were the
snicers and crew Of the Miwakn. there
ytfrred for a time desperate belief
mt one of the men on the Miwnkn
vss saved; that somewhere. somehow.
10 WINS alive md might return. The
,,fy Of the destruction OF the Miwaka
rs fixed as December by the time
which she passed the government
,aokout at the straits: the hour was
he'd as 1--WE o'clock In the morning
Aiy by the sounding of the drum.
d.
tStorm-the singing, frozen sleet
lash Of the February norther whls-
Ing down the fioe-jammed length Of
d lake-was nssnrltIng Chicago. :"
,eavy was this frost on the panes OF
Se Fort Dearborn club-one of the
faidest of the downtown clubs for
5en-thnt the great log fires blazing
!, the open henrths added apprecinblc
teht as well rs warmth to the rooms.
1.-THE few members present at this
Our Of the afternoon showed by their
,xy attitudes and the desultorlness
Z their conversation the dullIng Of
ytality which warmth and shelter
ring on q day Of cold and storm. On
re, however. the storm had hnd con
tary effect. With swift. uneven steps
paced now one room, now smother;
-om time to time he stopped NIB.
tptly by q window, scraped from II
Nth finger nail the frost. stirred out
Or an instant through the little open.
sg he had made. then resumed as abb
bptiy his nervous pacing with q man
sar so uneasy and dIstrnught that.
Ince his arrival ut the club an hour
Afors. none even among those who
esw him best had ventured to speak
Shim.