prepared to sleep again.

But the excitement of the night had been great; his sudden awakening
from sleep, his missing Captain Tom, and finding him in time to
prevent a tragedy, had aroused him thoroughly, and now sleep was far
from his eyes.

And so he lay and thought of his past life, and as it passed before
him it shook him with nervous sleeplessness.

It hurt him. He lay and panted with the strong sorrow of it.

Perhaps it was that, but with it were thoughts also of little Jack,
and the tears came into the eyes of the big-hearted outlaw.

He had his plans all arranged--he and the Bishop--and now as the
village blacksmith he would begin the life of an honest man.

Respected--his heart beat proudly to think of it.

Respected--how little it means to the man who is, how much to the man
who is not.

"Why," he said to himself--"perhaps after a while people will stop
and talk to me an' say as they pass my shop: 'Good mornin',
neighbor, how are you to-day?' Little children--sweet an' innocent
little children--comin' from school may stop an' watch the sparks fly
from my anvil, like they did in the poem I onct read, an' linger
aroun' an' talk to me, shy like; maybe, after awhile I'll get their
confidence, so they will learn to love me, an' call me Uncle
Jack--Uncle Jack," he repeated softly.

"An' I won't be suspectin' people any mo' an' none of 'em will be my
enemy. I'll not be carryin' pistols an' havin' buckets of gold an'
not a friend in the worl'."

His heart beat fast--he could scarcely wait for the morning to come,
so anxious was he to begin the life of an honest man again. He who
had been an outlaw so long, who had not known what it was to know
human sympathy and human friendship--it thrilled him with a rich,
sweet flood of joy.

Then suddenly a great wave swept over him--a wave of such exquisite
joy that he fell on his knees and cried out: "O God, I am a changed
man--how happy I am! jus' to be human agin an' not hounded! How can I
thank You--You who have given me this blessed Man the Bishop tells us
about--this Christ who reaches out an' takes us by the han' an' lifts
us up. O God, if there is divinity given to man, it is given to that
man who can lift up another, as the po' outlaw knows."

He lay silent and thoughtful. All day and night--since he had first
seen Margaret, her eyes had haunted him. He had not seen her before
for many years; but in all that time there had not been a day when he
had not