"
The clamouring voices ceased, and the men wheeled at the sound,
gazing incredulously at the speaker. "What!"--"In this
storm?"--"You're crazy," many voices said.
He gazed appealingly at the faces before him. Brave and adventurous
men he knew them to be, jesting with death, and tempered to perils in
this land where hardship rises with the dawn, but they shook their
ragged heads hopelessly.
"We _must_ save them!" resumed Captain hotly. "Barton and I played
as children together, and if there's not a man among you who's got
the nerve to follow me--I'll go alone by Heavens!"
In the silence of the room, he pulled the cap about his ears and,
tying it snugly under his chin, drew on his huge fur mittens; then
with a scornful laugh he turned toward the door.
He paused as his eye caught the swollen face of Big George. Blood
had stiffened in the heavy creases of his face like rusted stringers
in a ledge, while his mashed and discoloured lips protruded thickly.
His hair gleamed red, and the sweat had dried upon his naked
shoulders, streaked with dirt and flecked with spots of blood, yet
the battered features shone with the unconquered, fearless light of a
rough, strong man.
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