Chapter 26 - Page 2

"help;" one well enough adapted to carry the sound far and distinctly.
There was a strain of agony in the cry, as if he who made it uttered it
in despair. Roswell's blood seemed to flow back to his heart; never had he
before felt so appalling a sense of the dependence of man on a Divine
Providence, as at that moment.

"You heard it?" he said, inquiringly, to Stephen, after an instant of
silent attention, to make sure that no more was to reach his ears just
then.

"Sartain, sir--no man could mistake _that_. It was the voice of the
nigger, Joe; him that Captain Daggett has for a cook."

"Think you so, Stephen? The fellow has good lungs, and they may have set
him to call upon us in their distress. What can be the nature of the
assistance they ask?"

"I've been thinking of that, Captain Gardner; and a difficult p'int it is
to answer. Food they must have still; and was they in want of their
rations, hands would have been sent across to get 'em. They may have let
their fire go out, and be without the means to re-light it. I can think of
nothing else that is likely to happen to men so sarcumstanced."

The last suggestion struck Roswell as possible. From the instant he felt
certain that he was called on for aid, he had determined to proceed to the
wreck, notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, and the intense severity
of the weather. As he had intimated to Stephen, he was not at all
conscious how very cold it was; exercise and the active workings of his
mind having brought him to an excellent condition to resist the sternness
of the season. The appeal had been so sudden and unexpected, however, that
he was at first somewhat at a loss how to proceed. This matter was now
discussed between him and Stimson, when the following plan was adopted:--

The mates were to be called, and made acquainted with what had occurred,
and put on their guard as to what might possibly be required of them. It
was not thought necessary to call any of the rest of the men. There was
always one hand on the watch in the house, whose duty it was to look to
the fires, for the double purpose of security against a conflagration, and
to prevent the warmth within from sinking too near to the cold without. It
had often occurred to Roswell's mind that a conflagration would prove
quick destruction to his party. In the first place, most of the
provisions would be lost; and it was certain that, without a covering and
the means of keeping warm within it, the men could not resist the climate
eight-and-forty hours. The burning of the hut would be certain death.

Roswell took no one with him but Stimson. Two were as good as a hundred,
if all that was asked were merely the means to