and and
arm with a torn sleeve showed; Alan could not see the rest of the
figure, but by the sleeve he recognized that it was the mate.

"Who's caught here?" he called down.

"Benjamin Corvet of Corvet, Sherrill, and Spearman, ship owners of
Chicago," Corvet's voice replied deeply, fully; there was authority in
it and wonder too--the wonder of a man finding himself in a situation
which his recollection cannot explain.

"Ben Corvet!" the mate shouted in surprise; he cried it to the others,
those who had followed Corvet and obeyed him during the hour before and
had not known why. The mate tried to pull the wreckage aside and make
his way to Corvet; but the old man stopped him. "The priest, Father
Benitot! Send him to me. I shall never leave here; send Father
Benitot!"

The word was passed without the mate moving away. The mate, after a
minute, made no further attempt to free Corvet; that indeed was
useless, and Corvet demanded his right of sacrament from the priest who
came and crouched under the wreckage beside him.

"Father Benitot!"

"I am not Father Benitot. I am Father Perron of L'Anse."

"It was to Father Benitot of St. Ignace I should have gone, Father! ..."

The priest got a little closer as Corvet spoke, and Alan heard only
voices now and then through the sounds of clanging metal and the drum
of ice against the hull. The mate and his helpers were working to get
him free. They had abandoned all effort to save the ship; it was
settling. And with the settling, the movement of the wreckage
imprisoning Alan was increasing. This movement made useless the
efforts of the mate; it would free Alan of itself in a moment, if it
did not kill him; it would free or finish Corvet too. But he, as Alan
saw him, was wholly oblivious of that now. His lips moved quietly,
firmly; and his eyes were fixed steadily on the eyes of the priest.

CHAPTER XVIII

MR. SPEARMAN GOES NORTH

The message, in blurred lettering and upon the flimsy tissue paper of a
carbon copy--that message which had brought tension to the offices of
Corvet, Sherrill, and Spearman and had called Constance Sherrill and
her mother downtown where further information could be more quickly
obtained--was handed to Constance by a clerk as soon as she entered her
father's office. She reread it; it already had been repeated to her
over the telephone.

"4:05 A. M. Frankfort Wireless station has received following message
from No. 25: 'We have