nderstand this clearly--"The
wicked shall be turned into hell"--"He that believeth not shall be
damned."'

'Well, then, you'll stand a very good chance of being damned also,'
exclaimed one of the two young men.

''Ow do you make it out?' demanded the preacher, wiping the froth from
his lips and the perspiration from his forehead with his handkerchief.

'Why, because you don't believe the Bible yourselves.'

Nimrod and the other evangelists laughed, and looked pityingly at the
young man.

'Ah, my dear brother,' said Misery. 'That's your delusion. I thank
God I do believe it, every word!'

'Amen,' fervently ejaculated Slyme and several of the other disciples.

'Oh no, you don't,' replied the other. 'And I can prove you don't.'

'Prove it, then,' said Nimrod.

'Read out the 17th and 18th verses of the XVIth chapter of Mark,' said
the disturber of the meeting. The crowd began to close in on the
centre, the better to hear the dispute. Misery, standing close to the
lantern, found the verse mentioned and read aloud as follows:

'And these signs shall follow them that believe. In my name shall they
cast out devils: they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up
serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them:
they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.'

'Well, you can't heal the sick, neither can you speak new languages or
cast out devils: but perhaps you can drink deadly things without
suffering harm.' The speaker here suddenly drew from his waistcoat
pocket a small glass bottle and held it out towards Misery, who shrank
from it with horror as he continued: 'I have here a most deadly poison.
There is in this bottle sufficient strychnine to kill a dozen
unbelievers. Drink it! And if it doesn't harm you, we'll know that
you really are a believer and that what you believe is the truth!'

''Ear, 'ear!' said the Semi-drunk, who had listened to the progress of
the argument with great interest. ''Ear, 'ear! That's fair enough.
Git it acrost yer chest.'

Some of the people in the crowd began to laugh, and voices were heard
from several quarters calling upon Misery to drink the strychnine.

'Now, if you'll allow me, I'll explain to you what that there verse
means,' said Hunter. 'If you read it carefully--WITH the context--'

'I don't want you to tell me what it means,' interrupted the other. 'I
am able to read for myself. Whatever you may say, or pretend to think