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About Mt. Scott herald. (Lents, Multnomah Co., Or.) 1914-1923 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 1922)
INDIAN DRUM William Mac H«ii<i and l'4wm Bahner SYNOPSIS CHAPTTR I.—Wealthy and highly placed in the Chicago bualneas world, Benjamin Corvel la something of a re cluse mim I a mystery to In» associates. Aflernatormy interview with hiaparu ner, Henry Spearman. Uorvet seeks Constance Sherrill, daughter of his other business partner, luiwrvnre Sherrill, and secures from her a prom ise not to marry Spearman. _ He then dirappeani. Sherrill learns Corvel hss written tn a certain Alan (Jonrnd, In Blue Rapids. Kan., and exhibited strange agitation over the matter. CHAPTER II.—Corvet’s letter sum mons Conrvwl, a youth of unknown parentage, to Chicago. CHAPTER 111.—From a statement of Sherrill it seems probable Conrad is Corvel's illegitimate sun. Corvet has flecded his house and its contents to Alan. CHAPTER IV.—Alan takes posses- eion of his new home. CHAPTER V.—That night Alan discovers a man ransacking the desks and iHireuu drawers in Corvel’s upurt menu. The appearance of Alan trv- atetvlously agitates the intruder, who appears to think him a ghost and raves of “the Miwaka." After a Struggle the man escapes. CHAPTER VI. Next day Alan learns from Sherrill that Corvet has denied his entire property to him. In troduced to Spearman, Alan ia aatoun- ed at the diacoven’ that he ia the mm whom he had found in his bouse the night before. CHAITER VII.—Alan tells no one , of his strange encounter, but In n private interview taxes Spearman with the fact. Spearman laughs at and defies him. CHAPTER Vlll.—Corvst’s Indian servant, Waasaquam, tells Alan he believm his employer la demi. He also tolls him the legend of the Indian drum, which according to old super stition beats once for every life lost on the Giral Lake». Twenty years before, the great freighter Miwaka had gone down with 25 on board, but; the Drum had sounded for only 24,1 leaving the inference that one person had been saved, since it was general belief that the drum never erred. Pur suing a stranger who had made a dis turbance at his house, Alan is slugged and rendered unconscious. CHAPTER IX.—Conrad recovers, and the affair remains a mystery. CHAITER XI.—From the docu ment Alan thinks he may have a clew to the mystery surrounding Corvet's life and disappearance. He leaves Chicago to visit ladle Michigan ports in search of the person» whose nmnen were on the list. CHAITER X.—Alaa learns from Waasaquam that it was Corvel's habit to keep the sum of SI00 in the house, apparently to meet the demands of a certain "Luka," who appeared peri odically. In the absence of Waaaa- quam, “Luks’’ cornea to the house de manding to see Corvet. He ia evi dently in a dying condition, duo to alcohol and exposure. Conrad tries without avail to get him to explain his connection with Corvel The man dies. Waasaquiam gives Conrad a paper on which ia a list of namea. CHAITER XII. — Constance re ceives a package wrapped in a muf fler which she recognises Corvet was wearing on the day he went away. It contains a few coins, a watch, and woman’s wedding ring. She believes them to have been the property of Corvet, and accepts them as a proof of his death. Spearman urges Con stance to marry him. She consents, but refuses his demand for an im mediate ceremony. CHAPTER XIII.—Inquiries show that the watch in the package had been the property of a Captain Staf ford, commander of the Miwaka, who had gone down with his ship. CHAITER XIV.—Working on a lake freighter, Alan becomes acquainted with an elderly man known an “Jim Burr,” who seems to be possessed of Information which Alan believes would only be known to Corvet. CHAPTER XV. —Alan secures a position on the freighter of which “Burr” is wheelsman. He Is satisfied he has found the man he believes to be his father. “Burr,” at the wheel of the freighter, apparently in de mentia. refuses to obey orders to change the vessel's course, and the ship collides with a derelict In almost sinking condition they atempt to reach port. The loaded freight cars which the vessel is carrying break lootte. (Continued from last week.) Aian faced the wind with mackinaw buttoned about his throat; to make certain hla hearing, hie ears were un protected. They numbed frequently, and he drew a hand out of the glove to rub them. The windows to protect the wheelsman had been dropped, aa the enow had gathered on the glaaa; and nt Intervals, as he glanced back, he could see old Burr’s face ns he switched on a dim light to look at the compass. The strange placidity which usually characterised the old man's face had not returned to It since Alan had spoken with him on the dock : Its look was Intent and qilvcrty dru'vn. Was old Burr beginning to remciul er tlml he «as Benjamin Corvet? Alan did not believe It could be that; agnln and agnln ho had spoken Corvel's mime to him without effect. Yet there must have been times when. If he was actual ly Corvet. he had remembered who he «'aa. lie must have remembered that when hr had written directions to some one to send those things to Constance Sherrill; or, a strange thought had come to Alan, had he written those In structions himself? Thl» certainly would account fur the package having been mailed at Manitowoc and for Alan's failure to find out by whom It had been mailed. It would account, too, fur the unknown handwriting,upon the wrap|>er. If some one on the ferry had addressed the package for the old man. What could have brought back that moment ut recollection to Corvel Alan wondered; the finding of the things which he had sent? What might bring another such moment? Would hts see ing the Sherrill» again—or Kpearman— act to restore him? For half an hour Alan pace«! steadily at the bow. The storm was Increasing noticeably tn fierceness j the wind- driven snowflakes had changed to hard paltata olilrh like little biilb-ta, cut and suing the face; and It was growing cohler. From a cabin window came the blue flash of the w I ret ess. which had t>een silent after notifying the shore stations of their. departure. It had commenced agnln; this was uanaual. Something stilt more unusual follow «1 at once; I lie direction of the gale seemed slowly to shift, and with It the wash of the water; Instead of the wind and the waves coming from dead ahead now, they moved to the |w>rt beam. and Number 25. still pitching with the thrust thisnigh the seas, also began to roll. Thia meant, of course, that the steamer had changed Re course and was making almost dne north. It seemed to Alan to force Its engines faster; the deck vibrated more. Alan had not heard the orders for rhls change and could only speculate as to what It might mean. Ills relief came after a few minutes more. “Where are we heading?“ Alan asked. “Radio," the relief announced. “The II. CX Richardson calling; she’s up by the Manltoua." , "What sort of trouble?" "Hhe'a not In trouble; It's another ship." "What ahlpr “No word as to that." Alan, not delaying to qnestlon fur ther, went back to the cabins. These stretched aft. behind the bridge, along the upper deck, some score on each side of the ship; they had accommodations for almost a hun dred passengers; hut on thia crossing only a faw were occupied. Alan had noticed some half-doxen men—buxines« men. no doubl forced to make the crooning, and one of them, a Catholic priest, returning probably to some mis sion tn the noqth; he had seen no wom en among them. A little group of passengers were gathered now In the door of or just outside the wireless cabin, which was one of the row on the starboard aide. Stewards stood with them and the cabin maid; within, and bending over the table with the radio Instrument, was the operator with the second officer beside him. The violet spark was rasping, and the ojierator. hla receivers at replied over hla ears, strained to listen, lie got no reply, evidently, and he struck Ills key agnln; now. as he listened, he wrote slowly on a pad. “What la It?" Alan asked the officer. "The Richardson heard four blasts of a steam whistle about an hour agp when she was opposite the Manltous. She answered with the whistle and turned toward the blasts. She couldn't find any ship." The officer s reply was Interrupted by some of the others. •Then . . . that was a few minutes ago . . . they heard the four long agnln. . . . They’d tried to pick up the other ship with radio before. . . . Yes; we got that here. . . . Tried agnln and got no answer. . . . But they heard the blnatk for half au hour. . . . They said they seemed to be almost beside the ship once. , , . But they didn't see anything. Then the blasts stopped . . . sud den, cut off abort in the middle as though something happened. She was blowing distress all right . . . The Richardson's searching again now. . . . Yes, she's search Ing for boats." “Anyone else answered?” Alan naked. "Shore atatlona on both aldea." T>o they know whnt ship It Is?" “Nfi." "What ship might be theve now?" The officer" could not answer that He had known where the Richardson mnat be; he knew of no other likely to be there at this season. The epray from the wavee had frosen upon Alan; lee gleamed end glinted from the rail and from the dock. Alan's shoulder» drew gp In a spasm. The Richardson they wild, was looking for boats: bo« lung cuuld men live In little boats ei- poesd to that gale and cold? lie turned back to the othere about the radio cabin; the glow from within showed him facee as gray as his; It lighted a face on the opposite side of the door—a face haggard with dread ful fright. Old Burr Jerked about aa Alan spoke to him and moved away alone; Alan followed him and seised hie arm. "What's the matter?" Alan demand ed, holdbig to him. ’The foar blasts I" the wheelsman repeated. "They beard the four blasts!” He Iterated It once more. "Yea,” Alan urged. "Why not?" “But where no ship ought to be; eo they couldn't find the ship—they couldn't find the ship I" Terror, of awful abjectneas. camo over the old man. He freed himself from Alan and went forward. Alan went aft to the car deck. The roar and echoing tumult of the Ice against the hull here drowned all oth er sounds. The thirty-two freight cars. In their four long lines. stood wedged and chained and blocked In place; they tipped and tilted, rolled and swayed like the stanchions and aides of the ship, fixed and secure. Jacks on the steel deck under the edges of the care, kept them from rocking on their trucks Men paced watchfully between the tracks, observ ing the movement of the cars. The cars creaked and groaned, as they worked a little this way and that; the men sprang with »ledges and drove the blocks light again or took an addi tional turn upon the jacks. Alan saw old Burr who, on hla way to the wheelhouse, had halted to lis ten. For several minutes the old men stood motionless; he came on again and stopped to listen. "You hear 'em?" Burr's voice qua vered In Alan's ear. “You hear 'em?" "What?" asked Alan. “The four blasts! You hear 'em now? The four blasts!" Burr was straining as he listened, and Alan stood still too; no sound came to him but the noise of the storm. “No," he replied. "I don't hear anythlug. Do you hear them now?" Burr stood beside him without mak ing reply; the searchlight, which had been pointed abeam, shot Its glare for ward. and Alan could see Burr’s face In the dancing refiectlon of the flare. The man had never more plainly re- The Man Had Never More Plainly Re sembled the Picture Of Benjamin Corvet. sera bled the picture of Benjamin Cor vel ; that which had been tn the pic ture. that strange sensation of some thing haunting him, was upon this man's face, a thousand times Intensi fied ; hut Instead of distorting the fea tures away from all likeness to the picture. It made It grotesquely Iden tical. And Burr was hearing something— something distinct and terrifying; but he seemed not surprised. but rather satisfied that Alan had not heard. Ho nodded his head at Alan's denial, and. without reply to Alan's demand, he stood listening. Homething bent him forward; he straightened; again the oometlilng came; again be straight ened. Four times Alan counted the motions. Burr was hearing again the four long blasts of distress! But there was no noise but the gale. "The four blasts!" He recalled old Burr's terror outside the radio cabin. The old man was hearing blasts which were not blown! He moved on and took the wheel. He whs a good wheelsman; the vessel seemed to be steadier on her course and, somehow, to steer easier when the old man steered. Hla Illusions of hear ing could do no harm. Alan consid ered ; they were of concern only to Burr and to him. Alan fought to keep hie thought all to hla duty; they muat be now very nenrly at the position where the Rich ardson last had heard the four long blasts; senrchlng for a ship or for boats, tn that snow, was almost hope less With sight even along the search light's beam shortened to a few hun dred yards, only accident could bring Number 25 up'for rescue, only chance could carry the ship where the shouts —or the blasts of distress If the wreck still floated and bad steam—woffld be heard. They were meeting frequent and heavy floes, ami Alan gave warning of these by hails to the bridge; the bridge answered and when possible the steam er avoided the floes; when It could not do thnt It cut through them. The wind rowed Ice besting and crushing under the bows took strange, distorted, glia tenlng shapes. Now another such shape It or not, rnn a riotous exultation. As | be paced from side to aide and hailed and answered halls from the bridge, and while he strained for sight and hearing through the gale owe|d enow, the leaping pulse within repeated, appeared before them; where the glare dissipated to a bare glow In the swirl ing snow, be saw a vague shadow. The nan moving the searchlight failed to see It, for bo swung the beam on. The jhadow was so dim, so ghostly, that Alan sought for It again before he hailed; be could see nothing now, yet he was surer, somehow, that bo bad Been. "Something dead ahead, sir!" be j shouted hark to the bridge. The bridge answered Hie hell ss the ! searchlight pointed forward again. A gust carried the snow In a fierce flurry which the light failed to pierce; from | the flurry suddenly, silently, spur by . spar, a shadow emerged— the shadow of a ship, it was a steamer, Alan saw, a long, low-lying old vessel without i lights and without smoke from the fun | nel slanting up just forward of tbe I after deckhouse; It rolled In the trough I of the sea. Tbe sides ami all the lower ' works gh-ained In ghostly pboaphores- ' cence. It was refraction of the search ; light beam from the Ice sheathing all ! the ship, Alan's brain told him; but I the sight of that soundless, shimmering ' ship materializing from behind the screen of snow struck a tremor through | him. •■Ship!" he hulled. “Ahead! Dead ! ahead, sir! Ship!" The shout of quick command» : echoed to him from the bridge. Un- j derfoot he could feel a new tumult of I the deck; the engines, instantly I stopped, were being set full speed as tern. But Numtier 25. Instead of i sheering off to right or left to avoid the collision, steered straight on. The struggle of tbe engines against . the momentum of the ferry told that ; others had seen the gleaming ship, or. ■ at least, had heard the hall. The skip tier's Instant decision had been to put to starboard; he had bav led that to the wheelsman, "Hard over!” But. , though the screws turned full astern ; Numtier 25 steered straight on. The flurry was blowing before the bow ■ agnln; back through tbe snow the Ice- shrouded shimmer ahead retreated. Alan leaped away and up to tbe wheel house. Men were struggling there—the skip per. a mate, and old Burr, who had held the wheel. He clung to It yet. aa J one In a trance, fixed, staring ahead: his arms, stiff, had l>een bolding Num ber 25 to her course. The skipper struck him and beat him away, while the mate tugged at tbe wheel. Burr was torn from the wheel now, and he made no resistance to the skipper's blows; but tbe skipper. In his frenzy, struck him again and knocked him to tbe deck. Slowly, steadily. Number 25 was re sponding to her helm. The bow point ed away, and the beam of the ferry came beside the beam of the silent steamer; they were very dose now, eo dose that the searchlight, which had turned to keep on the other vessel, shot shove Its shimmering deck and lighted only the spars; and. as tbe wa ter rose and fell between them, the ships sucked closer^ Numl>er 25 shook with an effort; It seemed opposing with all the power of Its screws some force fatally drawing it co—opposing with the last resistance before giving way. Then, as the water fell again, the ferry seemed to slip and he drawn toward the other vessel; they mounted, side by side . . . crashed . . . recoiled , . . crashed again. That second crash threw all who had nothing to bold by. fiat upon tbe deck; then Number 25 moved by; astern her now the silent steamer vanished tn the snow. Gongs boomed below; through the new confusion and the cries of men. orders began to become audible. Alan, scrambling to bls knees, put sn arm under old Burr, half raising hhn; the form encircled by his arm struggled up. The skipper, who had knocked Burr sway from the wheel. Ignored him now. The old man, dragging himself up and holding to Alan, was staring with terror at the enow screen behind which the vessel had disappeared. His lips moved. “It was a ship I" he said; he seemed speaking more tq himself thsn to Alan. "Yes," Alan said. "It was a ship; and you thought—" “It wasn’t there 1" the wheelsman cried. Tit’s—It’s been there all the time alt. night, and Td—I'd steered through tt ten times, twenty times, every few minutes; and then—that j time it was a ship!“ Alan's excitement grevf greater; he seized the old man again. “You thought It was tbe Miwaka!" Alan exclaimed. "The Miwaka! And you tried to steer through It again.” "The Miwaka I" old Burr’s lips reit erated the word. "Yes; yes—the Mi waka !" He struggled, writhing with some agony not physical. Alan tried to hold him, but now the old man was beside himself with dismay. He broke away and started aft. The captain's voice recalled Alan to himself, as be was about to follow, and he turned hack to the wheel house. The second officer, who had gone be low to ascertain the damage done to the ferry, .came up to report. Two of the compartments, those which had taken the crush of the collision, had flooded Instantly; the bulkheads were holding—enly leaking a little, the offi cor declared. Water was coming Into a third compartment, that at the stem; the pumps were fighting this water. The shock had sprung seams else where; but If the after compartment did not fill, the pumps might handle the rest. Alan was at the bow again on look out' duty, ordered to listen and to look for tbe little boats. He gave to that duty all his conscMt.» attention; but through his thought, whether he willed I’ve found him! I’ve found him!” Alan held no longer possibility of doubt of old Burr’s tdent'ty with Ren- jamln Corvet, since the old own hail made plain to him that he was haunt ed by the Miwaka. Nines that night in the house on Astor street, when Hpearmnu shouted u> Alan that name, everything having to do with tbe se cret of Benjamin Corvet’s life bad led. eo far as Alan could follow It. to the Miwaka; all ths change. which Sher rill described but could not account for, Alan had laid to that. Corvet only could have been eo haunted by that ghostly ship, and there had been guilt of some awful sort In the old man's cry. Alan had found the man who had sent him away to Kansas when he was a child, who had support ed him there and then, at last, sent for him; who had disappeared at hla coming and left him ell his po s s e s Mons and his heritage of disgrace, who had paid blackmail to Luke, and who had aent. last, Captain Stafford's watch and the ring which came with It—the wedding ring. Alan pulled hie hand from hla glove and felt In bls pocket for the little bend of gold. What wouia that mean to him now; what of that was he to learn? And. as he thought of that. Constance Nherrill came more Insist ently before him. What was he to learn for her. for his friend and Ben jamin Corvet’s friend, whom he. Unde Benny, bad warned not to care for Henry Spearman, and then had gone away to leave her to marry hint? For fhe was to marry him, Alan had read. More serious damage than flnit re ported ! Tbe [innifiH certainly muat be losing their fight with the water tn the port compartment aft; for the bow steadily was lifting, the stem sinking. The starboard rail too was raised, end the list hsd become eo sharp that wa ter washed the deck shaft tbe fore castle to port. And the ferry was pointed straight Into the gale now; long ago »he had ceased to circle and steam slowly In search for boats; she struggled with all her power against tbe wind end the seas, a desperate In sistence throbbing tn the thrusts of tbe engines; for Number 25 wss flee ing—fleeing for the western shore. She dared not turn to the nearer eastern shore to expose that shattered stem to the sear Four bells beat behind Alan; tt was two o'clock. Relief should hsve come long before; but no one came. He was numbed now J ice from the spray- crackled upon his clothing when he moved, and It fell In flakes upon the deck. The stark figure on tbe bridge was that of the second officer; so tbe thing which wss happening below— the thing which was sending strange, violent, wanton tremors through the ship—was serious enough to call the skipper below, to make him abandon the bridge at this timet The tremors, quite distinct from the steady tremble of the engines and the thudding of the pumps, came again. Alan, feeling them, jerked up and stamped and beat hla arma to regain sensation. Some one stumbled toward h?m from tbe cabins now, a short figure tn a great coat. It was a woman, he saw as she helled him—the cabin maid. "rm taking your place!” she shouted to Alan. “You’re wanted—every one's wanted on the car deck! The cars—“ The gale and her fright stopped her voice ss she struggled for speech. “The cars—the cars »re loose!" CHAPTER XVI men st tempted It only In final extremi ties. when th« ship must be lightened at any coat Alan had never seen the effect of such an attempt, but be had heard of It as the fear which sal al ways on th« hearts of the men who navigate the ferries—the cars loose on a rolling, lurching ship! He was going to that now. Tbe car deck was a pitch ing, swaying slope; the cars nearest him were still upon their tracks, but they tilted and swayed uglily from side to side; the Jacks were gone from un der them; the next cars already were hurled from the rails, their wheels screaming on the steel deck, clanging and thudding together In their couplings. Alan ran aft between them. All ths crew who could lie called from deck anC engine room and flrebold were strug gling at the fantail, under the direction of the captain, to throw off the cars. The mate was working as one of tbe men. and with him was Benjamin Car- vet. The crew already must have loo* ened and thrown over the stem three cars from the two tracks on the port side; tor there was a space vacant; and as a car charged Into that space and tbe men threw themselves upon It, Alan leaped with them. It was a flat car laden with steel beams At Corvet’s command, the crew ranged themselves beside it with bans. The tiow of the ferry rose to «ome great wave and. with a cry to the men. Corvet pulled the pin. The others thrust with their bars, and the car slid down tbe sloping track; and Corvet. caught by some lashing of the beams, came with It. Alan leaped upon It and. catching Corvet. freed him end flung him down to tbe deck, and dropped with him. A cheer rose aa the car cleared tbe lantail, dove and disap peared. YEAGER HE ATE Ixnts, Oregon Rio Cirtndu “North of the Rio Grande” A i play for red-blooded Ameri cana, also “Kiss and Make Up” a two-part comedy and “Beautiful Cat” . an Aesop’s Fsble (Continued Next Week.) What is difficulty? 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