The Holly chieftain., 1922-08-03

beside the cars as the fantaA dipped
into the water; Corvet, again leading
the crew, cleared the leader of those
madly charging cars and ran 1t over
the stern.
The fore trucks fell and, before the
rear trucks reached the edge, the
stern lifted and caught the car in the
middle; it balanced, half over the wa
ter, half over the deck. Corvet
crouched under the car with a crow
bar; Alan and two others went with
him; they worked the car on until the
weight of the end over the water tipped
1t down; the balance broke, and the
car tumbled and dived. Corvet, hav-
ing cleared another hundred tons,
leaped back, calling to the crew.
They followed him again, unques-
tioning, obedient Alan followed close
to him. 1t was not pity which stirred
him now for Benjamin Corvet; nor was
1t bitterness; but it certainly was not
contempt. OF all the ways in which he
had fancied finding Benjamin Corvet,
he had never thought of seeing him
like thisl
1t was, probably, only for flash;
but the great quality OF leadership
which he had once possessed, which
Sheriff. had described to Alan and
which had been destroyed by the threat
over him, had returned to him in this
desperate emergency which he had Gre
ated. How much or how little of his
own condition Corvet understood, Alan
could not tell; 1t was plain only that
he comprehended that he had been the
cause Of the catastrophe, and in his
fierce will to repair 1t he not only dis
regarded all risk to himself; he also
had summoned up from within him and
was spending the last strength of his
spirit. But he was spending 1t in a
losing fight.
He got OF two more cars; yet the
deck only dipped lower, and water
washed farther and farther up over
the fantail. Men, leaping from before
the charging cars, got caught in the
murderous melee Of iron and steel
and wheels; mems shrill cries came
amid the scream Of metal. Alan, tug
ging at crate which had struck down
a man, felt aid beside him and, turn
ing, he saw the priest whom he had
passed on the stairs. The priest was
bruised and bloody; this was not his
first effort to aid. Together they lifted
an end Of the crate; they bent-Alan
stepped back, and the priest knelt
alone, his lips repeating the prayer for
absolution. Screams Of men came from
behind and the priest rose and turned.
He saw men caught between two
wrecks of cars crushing together; !;
there was no moment to reach them :;
he stood and raised his arms to them,
his head thrown back, his voice calling
to them, as they died, the words of
absOlution.
Three more cars at the cost of two
lives the crew cleared, while the
sheathing of ice spread over the steel
inboard, and dissolution of all the
cargo became complete. Cut stone and
motor parts, chasses and castings, fur
niture and beams, swept back and
forth, while the cars, burst and splin-
tered, became monstrous missiles hurt
ling forward, sidewise, aslant, recoil-
ing. Yet men, though scattered singly
tried to stay them by ropes and chains
while the water washed higher and
higher. Dimly. far away, deafened out
by the clangor, the steam whistle of
Number 25 was blowing the four long
blasts of distress; Alan heard the
sound now and then with Indifferent
wonder. All destruction had come for
him to be contained within this car
deck here the ship loosed On itself all
elements Of annihilation; who could
aid 1t from without7 Alan caught the
end of a chain which Corvet flung him
and, though he knew 1t was useless,
he carried 1t across from one stanchion
10 the next. Something, sweeping
across the deck. caught him and car
ried him with 1t; 1t brought him be-
fore the coupled line Of trucks which
hurtled back and forth where the rails
of track three had been. He was
hurled before them and rolled over;
something cold and heavy pinned him
down; and upon him, the car trucks
came.
But before them, something warm
and living-a hand and bare arm
catching him quickly and pulling at
him, tugged him a little farther on.
Alan, looking up, saw Corvet beside
him; Corvet, unable to move him
farther, was crouching down there
with him. Alan yelled to him to leap.
to twist aside and get out of the way;
but Corvet only crouched closer and
put his arms over Alan; then the
wreckage came upon them. driving
them apart. As the movement stopped,
Alan still coulo see Corvet dimly by
the glow of the incandescent lamps