sick man; clutching Slagg's arm with a
trembling grip, "don't leave me, Jim--don't, don't! I shall die if you
do! I'm dyin' anyhow, but it will kill me quicker if you go."

"Well, I won't go. There, keep quiet, my poor old Stumps."

"Yes, that's it--that's it--I like to hear the old name," murmured the
sick man, closing his eyes. "Say it again, Jim--say it again."

"Stumps," said Slagg, getting down on his knees, the better to arrange
and grasp his former comrade, "don't be a fool now, but listen. I have
come to look after you, so make your mind easy."

"But I've been such a beast to you, Jim; it was so awful shabby," cried
Stumps, rousing himself again, "and I've been _so_ sorry ever since.
You can't think how sorry. I have repented, Jim, if ever a man did.
An' I'd have come back and confessed long ago, if I'd had the chance,
but I can get no rest--no peace. I've never spent a rap of it, Jim,
except what I couldn't help--for you know, Jim, body an' soul wouldn't
stick together without a little o' suthin' to eat an' drink; an' when I
was ill I couldn't work, you know. See, it's all here--all here--except
what little--"

He stopped abruptly, having raised himself to open the lid of the box at
his elbow, but his strength failed, and he sank on the pillow with a
groan.

"Stumps," said Slagg, "come, old boy, you an' me will have a bit of
prayer together."

The sick man opened his great eyes in astonishment. It was so unlike
his old friend's brusque rollicking character to propose prayer, that he
fancied he must be dreaming, and the possibility of the visit turning
out unreal, induced an expression of distress on his haggard
countenance. On being ordered, however, in the peremptory and familiar
tones of former days, to shut his eyes, he felt reassured and became
calm, while his friend prayed for him.

It was not a set or formal prayer by any means. It sounded strangely
like a man asking a friend, in commonplace terms, but _very_ earnestly,
to give him what he stood in great need of; and what Jim asked for was
the salvation of his friend's soul and his restoration to health. The
petition, therefore, was remarkably brief, yet full of reverence, for
Jim, though naturally blunt and straightforward, felt that he was
addressing the great and blessed God and Saviour, who had so recently
rescued his own soul.

After saying "Amen!" which the sick man echoed, Slagg pulled out his
Bible and read through the fourt