_,
Hunky Ben, paid my passage to Ameriky, an' sent me off wi' his blessin'
an' a Bible. Unfortnitly I took a bottle wi' me, an when I got to the
other side I got hold of another bottle, an' another--an' there stands
the last of 'em.'

"An' wi' that, Mr Brooke, he fetched the bottle in front of him such a
crack wi' his fist as sent it all to smash against the opposite wall.

"`Well done, Screw!' cried the boy at the bar, laughin'; `have another
bottle?'

"Poor Screw smiled in a sheepish way, for the rile was out of him by
that time, an', says he, `Well, I don't mind if I do. A shot like that
deserves another!'

"Ah me!" continued the scout, "it do take the manhood out of a fellow,
that drink. Even when his indignation's roused and he tries to shake it
off, he can't do it."

"Well do I know that, Ben. It is only God who can help a man in such a
case."

The scout gravely shook his head. "Seems to me, Mr Brooke, that
there's a screw loose some wheres in our theology, for I've heard
parsons as well as you say that--as if the Almighty condescended to help
us only when we're in bad straits. Now, though I'm but a scout and
pretend to no book larnin', it comes in strong upon me that if God made
us an' measures our movements, an' gives us every beat o' the pulse, an'
counts the very hairs of our heads, we stand in need of His help in
_every_ case and at _all_ times; that we can't save ourselves from
mischief under any circumstances, great or small, without Him."

"I have thought of that too, sometimes," said Charlie, sitting down on
the rock beside his companion, and looking at him in some perplexity,
"but does not the view you take savour somewhat of fatalism, and seek to
free us from responsibility in regard to what we do?"

"It don't seem so to me," replied the scout, "I'm not speakin', you see,
so much of doin' as of escapin'. No doubt we are _perfectly_ free to
_will_, but it don't follow that we are free to _act_. I'm quite free
to _will_ to cut my leg off or to let it stay on; an' if I carry out my
will an' _do_ it, why, I'm quite free there too--an' also responsible.
But I ain't free to sew it on again however much I may will to do so--
leastwise if I do it won't stick. The consekinces o' my deed I must
bear, but who will deny that the Almighty could grow on another leg if
He chose? Why, some creeters He _does_ allow to get rid of a limb or
two, an' grow new ones! So, you see, I'm responsible for my d