o that mayhap the man would answer me. But no
answer came. I walked up to the tent and drew aside the rotten flap.
And, Henry, there lay the man senseless before me! I thought he was
dead, and I onkivered my head. But the hound here knowed better, for he
began to wag his tail. I went in, and found that the man was still
breathing. I lifted him in my arms, Henry, and bore him out of the foul
air of that tent, taking him down to the warm sunshine on the point.

"For a long while I thought he was going to die in my arms. He just lay
there lifeless-like, a-looking across the lake with eyes half-shut. But
the sun and air revived him; and after a long while he stirs and says:

"'Old man, who are you who are so kind to me?'

"I tells him I was John Norton, the trapper.

"'I am John Roberts,' he says, 'and I haven't a friend on the earth, nor
do I deserve one. Old man, you cannot understand, because you have lived
an innocent life, but I am a sinner--a wretched sinner. And my moments
here are numbered. I will tell you of my crimes; I will confess them,
for they lie heavy on my heart.

"'John Norton, I was a miser; I had a heart with a passion for gold. For
the evil love of money I turned my face away from my kind. My wife I
deserted. My only child I refused, with curses, to see, even when she
sent for me as she lay dying. John Norton, I gave all for gold. And the
more I loved it, the more I hated man. With my dreadful lust there grew
suspicion of every one. All ties of affection were severed. I lived
alone, hoarding my gold and gloating over it.

"'At last I fled from the habitations of men, bringing my gold, my god,
with me in a Keg. Here on this lonely shore I thought to be happy, far
from my own kind, far from any danger that my precious treasure be
stolen. But, John Norton--and a dying man is speaking--for all my
counting of the bright gold on the sands here, and my dancing about it
as a devil might, laughing and singing--I was unhappy. I knew that God
was watching me and was disapproving. I could not but think of my wife
and child. The thought of them began to make the gold hateful to me. Ah,
then, old man, I began to pray the Lord to deliver me! It was a bitter
struggle I fought, but at length He rescued me. He gave me strength,
John Norton, to overcome the Wicked One; He gave me strength to break
away from my sin; He gave me strength last night to pour every piece of
gold that had been for me both love and life, int