The Ordway new era., 1922-08-18
CHAPTER XVII
Mr.. spearman Goes North


vet, Sheriff. and Spearnan and had
called Constance Sheriff. and her
mother downtown where further Infor-
nation could be more quickly OBJ
tained-was handed TO Constance by a
clerk as soon as she entered her IA
theirs office She reread it; it already
had been repeated to her over the tele-
phone.
~ :05 a. N. Frankfort Wireless sta
ton has received following message
from Number 25: we have Benjamin
COrvet, of Chicago, aboard
You've received nothing later than
thIsf" she asked.
Nothing regarding Mr.. Corvet, Miss
Sheriff." the clerk replied.
"The crew."
YES; we have just got the names of
the crew" He took another copied
sheet from among the pages and hand
ed it to her. and she looked swiftly
down the list of names until she found
that of Alan Conrad.
Her eyes filed, binding her, as she
put the paper down, and began to take
off her things. She had been clinging
determinedly in her thought to the
belief that Alan might not have been
aboard the ferry. Alan's message,
which had sent her father north to
meet the ship. had implied plainly
that some one whom Alan believed
might be Uncle Benny was on Number
25 she had been fighting, these last
few hours. against conviction that
therefore Alan must be on the ferry,
too.
She stood by the desk, as the clerk
went out, looking through the papers
which he had left with her. What she
was reading was the carbon of the
report prepared that morning and sent,
at his rooms, to Henry, who was NOT
yet down.
The last message read: &c 40, Pc
toskey is calling Manitowoc, signals
from Number %, after becoming in
distinct, failed entirely about 5:45,
probably by failure of ships power
to supply current. Operator appears
to have remained at key. From 5:25
to :43 we received disconnected mes
sages, as follows: Have cleared an
other car they are sticking to
1t down there engine-roOm
crew is also sticking hell on
car deck everything smashed
they won't give up :.
sinking now we're going
good-bJ stuck to end
all they could . know
that hand it to them
have cleared snother car -. sink
S. O. Signals then en-
tirely ceased
Constance had not realized, until the
reports Of the wireless messages told
her that he was gone, what compan-
iOnship with Alan had come to mean
to her. She had accepted 1t as al
wayS TO be existent, somehow-a COM
partnership which might be Interrupted
often but always to be formed again.
It amazed her TO find how firm place
he had found In her world of those
close to her with whom she must al
WAYS be intimately concerned.
The telephone switchboard beside
Constance suddenly buzzed, and the
operator, plugging In a connection,
said: "Yes, sir; at once" and through
the partitions of the private office on
the other side, mans heavy tones
came to Constance That was Henry's
office. and in timbre, the voice was his,
but 1t was so strange In other charac-
teristics of expression that she waited
an Instant before saying to the clerk,
Mr.. Spearman has come in?"
The clerk hesitated, but the con-
tinuance of the tone from the other
side Of the partition made reply su-
perfiuous. "Yes, Miss Sheriff."
Constance went TO Henry's door and
raped. He made no answer and no
move 10 open the door: so, after wait
ing moment, she turned the knob and
went in.
Henry was seated at his desk, facing
her, his big hands before him; one
OF them held the telephone receiver.
He lifted it slowly and put 1t upon the
hook beside the transmitter as he
watched her with steady, silent, ag-
gresslve scrutiny. He did not rise;
only after n moment ne recollected that
he had not done SO and came to his
feet. Good morning, Connie" he said.
Come in. What's the news?"
The impulse which had brought her
into his Office went from her. She had
not seen nor heard from Henry direct
ly since before Alan's telegram had
come late yesterday afternoon; she
had heard from her father only that
he had informed Henry; that was all.
1--WE no news, Henry" she said.
~Have you?" She closed the door be-
hind her, moving closer to him.
"How did you happen to be here,
Connie2" he asked.
She made no reply but gazed at him,
studying him. The agitation which he
was trying to conceal was not entirely
consequent to her coming in upon him (;
It had been ruling him before. 1t had
underlain the loudness and abuse Of
his words which she had overheard.