Far and faint there seemed to come a cry for help across the darkness.
"That is enough," he cried; "some one is in distress and danger. Come, Mr. De Forrest. The case has lost all its quixotic elements, and you may now emulate the Chevalier Bayard himself."
"O, please don't go, gentlemen!" cried Lottie. "See, the night is very dark; the wind is rising; the water must be very rough. You may just throw away your own lives in the vain attempt to save utter strangers."
"Miss Marsden is right," said De Forrest, as if greatly relieved. "The attempt is perfectly foolhardy, and I am not a fool. If some one is in a boat that is fast in the ice, he has only a few more miles to drift before coming opposite a large town, where there are many better able to help than we are."
"Hush!" cried Hemstead; "do you hear that?"
Faint and far away, as a response to De Forrest's words, came again more clearly the cry for help.
"That is enough," again said Hemstead, excitedly; and he started for his hat.
Lottie laid her hand upon his arm, and said with seeming earnestness, "Surely, Mr. Hemstead, you will not be guilty of the folly of going alone upon such a desperate attempt as this?"
"I surely will; and you surprise me greatly that you seek to detain me," he said, almost sternly.
"But you alone can do nothing."