rken
with the spreading moisture. He had sunk too many wells not to know what
it portended. Not only his days but his hours perhaps were numbered. If
it was alkali, it would seep in slowly and prolong his agony, if it were
not, it would come faster. He would die literally in a grave of his own
digging.

He sat down again because his shaking legs refused to support him, and
leaned his head against the side for the same reason. Rufus was no hero
and there was no need to pretend to be, drowning by himself like a rat
in a bucket.

As he leaned there, nauseated, he caught a sound, or thought so, which
increased the sinking sensation, the feeling of collapse that
overwhelmed him. He took off his hat and laid his ear against the wall
to be sure of it. He had not been mistaken. His time on earth was
shorter even than he had imagined. The sound he had heard was the rumble
of a subterranean current that would soon break through, flowing faster
and faster as the opening enlarged until it came with a gush, finally.
He could visualize it because he had seen it happen. It would rise to
his ankles, his knees, his armpits, then cover him, and he would go to
his final punishment by the last route he ever had pictured!

Rufus got on his knees in an attitude of prayer and supplication. The
cracked remnants of his stentorian voice he used to the utmost
advantage. No Methodist exhorter ever prayed with more passionate
fervour, and he could not in a lifetime have kept the promises he made
to his Maker if only He would release him from the trap into which he
had gotten himself through his own evil doing.

"Lord, it was wrong for me to take that $150, but Canby tempted me. I
needed the money or I don't know as I would have done it. If You'll jest
get me out of this, Lord, all the rest of my life I'll do what I can for
You! I'll go to church--I'll give to the heathen--I'll stop takin' Your
name in vain, and say my prayers reg'lar! Oh, Lord! Once I stole a
halter and I ask Your forgiveness. And I left a neighbour's gate open on
purpose so the stock got into his cornfield, but I ain't a bad man
naturally, and this is the first real crookedness I ever done
intentionally. Lord," he pleaded, "hear my humble prayer and send
somebody!"

At the top of the well Wallie had his suspicions verified. So Canby had
laid one more straw on the camel's back to break it!

Any compunctions of conscience he might have had for putting Rufus
through such ment