Half a dozen men bent down to examine the crumpled figure of the unconscious schoolmaster, and as they were separating to let the captain and Charlie Hoyt carry him away to be cared for by the women at the Royces, a shout made them turn to the fire again.
“The ark!” cried a dozen voices. “The ark is going!”
The vibration of the explosion had accomplished what the men alone could not have done, and the ark was slipping down the ways.
“Here,” cried Marion Royce, “take this,” and quite unconscious that it was a human being whom he was handing over absently, he dashed back to the assistance of Jonas Sparks.
But by the time he reached the ways the ark was grinding the ice of the creek, her bottom scraping the bed of the shallow stream.
Moses Ayer came up, trembling from the terrible strain on the windlass when the ark shot down. The perspiration was raining down his drawn, excited face.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
As the captain handed over the schoolmaster’s inert form, he was too full of alarm to notice that the arms which received it were Jimmy Claiborne’s.
“Is he dead?” asked Jimmy, in a hoarse whisper.
Charlie Hoyt stared at him. “Dod rot!” he ejaculated. “You’re trembling! What’s the matter with you? The master’s not dead. Look at that.”
Then Jimmy saw the schoolmaster’s breath coming faintly like a frosty thread. He drew his own breath more freely.
“If you’re afraid to carry him, I’ll call Mose,” went on Charlie. “He’s hurt on the head. If it weren’t for that we could leave him over there by the fire till he sobers up. I wonder where he got it. Stocked up at Marietta, most likely. Here’s part of a corn-bin cover, shot out of the fire. We can lay him on that. It will carry better.”
The long bin cover, with its charred edges, was a clumsy thing to carry, and the two stumbled slowly along the dark path to the Royce’s cabin. They set their burden down several times to rest and get a better hold. Once Charlie fell and the schoolmaster slid from his rude stretcher into the snow. Perspiring and breathless they picked him up again and went heavily on.
Several women had gathered at the Royce’s from the neighboring cabins. They were all brave women, used to the alarms and hardships of their wild life, and they received the little party, that looked so much grimmer than it was, without excitement.