"Everything!"
"Then the Russians will stay?"
"No; they are going. I want a few to remain with us. That dock rat will, he's too lazy to try for the American continent. Perhaps there are others who will listen to reason, but the time is short. Maybe through the leader I can get the case stated to them, and ask for volunteers who are willing to wait for the wind to shift."
Helen Marr glided to the piano and lifted a sealskin coat from its stool. She thrust her arms into the sleeves of this as Stirling stepped forward with wonder written across his features.
"What are you going to do?" he asked.
"Going to see all of them and talk to them. I'm going to make myself understood in some way. Don't you see, Mr. Stirling, the matter is serious? If they go, there will be nobody but you and me to work the ship when the wind shifts. We couldn't do it alone."
"Well, it's worth trying," said Stirling. "I'll stand on the quarter-deck at the weather steps, and you go down to them. Try Slim first. The leader won't stay, but some of the younger Russians might."
The girl pressed a cap upon her head, gathered her hair into a knot, and ran up the stairs which led to the deck. Stirling picked up a rifle before he followed her. They stood in the frosty air and glanced forward. The Russians had lowered the sled and provisions to an ice floe which had grounded alongside the ship. More ice extended from the floe to the shore, and three of the revolutionists had already made the passage. They stood on the beach waving their arms.
The girl went down the quarter-deck steps and glided forward over the main hatch. She touched Slim on the arm, and the dock rat followed her forward to where the revolutionists were breaking out stores from the hold.
Stirling watched and waited. The Russians took time to listen to the girl's request, but most of them stared at each other dumbly. She pointed to the telltale on the mizzenmast, her arm swinging in a graceful circle and indicating that the wind would change. She finished her argument by springing to the weather rail and showing where the ice had cleared from the ship's side.