om the "Old Man's Chimney."

He thought he must be dreaming, or that he had lost his reason; still he
shouted out, "Hold on, thar! air it ye, Barney?"

The step paused. Then a reply came in a voice that he hardly recognized
as Barney's; it was so fierce, and so full of half-repressed anger.

"Yes, it air Barney,--ef _ye_ hev any call ter know."

"How did ye git away, Barney?--how did ye git away?" exclaimed Nick,
with a joyous sense of relief.

"A _thief's_ word cl'ared me!"

This bitter cry came up to Nick, sharp and distinct, through the dark
stillness. He said nothing at the moment, and presently he heard Barney
speak again, as he stood invisible, and enveloped in the gloom of the
night, at the foot of the mighty column.

"'Twar my bes' frien' ez sunk me deep in trouble. But the _thief_, he
fished me up. He 'lowed ter the jestice ez I never holped him ter steal
nothin' nor ter hide it arterward, nuther."

Nick said not a word. The hot tears came into his eyes. Barney, he
thought, could feel no more bitterly toward him than he felt toward
himself.

"How kem my coat ter be tored down thar on the ledge, close ter the
Conscripts' Hollow, whar I hain't been sence the cloth war wove?"

There was a long pause.

"I wore it thar, Barney, 'stid o' mine," Nick replied at last. "I never
knowed, at fust, ez I hed tored it. I was so skeered when I seen the
stole truck, I never knowed nothin'."

"An' then ye spoke a lie! An' arterward, ye let the folks think ez 'twar
me ez hed tored that coat close by the Conscripts' Hollow!"

"I was skeered haffen ter death, Barney!"

Nick was very contemptible in his falsehood and cowardice,--even in his
repentance and shame and sorrow. At least, so the boy thought who stood
in the darkness at the foot of the great column. Suddenly it occurred to
Barney that this was a strange place for Nick to be at this hour of the
night. His indignation gave way for a moment to some natural curiosity.

"What air ye a-doin' of up thar on the Old Man's Chimney?" he asked.

"I kem up hyar this mornin' early, ter watch the wagon a-takin' ye off.
Then I fell and bruk my arm, an' I can't git down 'thout bein' holped a
little."

There was another silence, so intense that it seemed to Nick as if he
were all alone again in the immensity of the mountains, and the black
night, and the endless forests. He had expected an immediate proffer of
assistance from Barney. He had thought that his injured frien