you no idolater, with your
burnt offerings and heathen gibberish? You worship a Baal and a Moloch
worse than any Midianite, for you adore the devils of your own rotten
heart."

The big man, with all the madness out of him, put his towsy head in his
hands, and a sob shook his great shoulders.

"Listen to me, John Gib. I am come from your own country-side to save
you from a hellish wickedness, I know the length and breadth of
Virginia, and the land is full of Scots, men of the Covenant you have
forsworn, who are living an honest life on their bits of farms, and
worshipping the God you have forsaken. There are women there like
Alison Steel, and there are men there like yourself before you
hearkened to the devil. Will you bring death to your own folk, with
whom you once shared the hope of salvation? By the land we both have
left, and the kindly souls we both have known, and the prayers you said
at your mother's knee, and the love of Christ who died for us, I adjure
you to flee this great sin. For it is the sin against the Holy Ghost,
and that knows no forgiveness."

The man was fairly broken down. "What must I do?" he cried. "I'm all in
a creel. I'm but a pipe for the Lord to sound through."

"Take not that Name in vain, for the sounding is from your own corrupt
heart. Mind what Alison Steel said about the devil of pride, for it was
that sin by which the angels fell."

"But I've His plain commands," he wailed. "He hath bidden me cast down
idolatry, and bring the Gentiles to His kingdom."

"Did He say anything about Virginia? There's plenty idolatry elsewhere
in America to keep you busy for a lifetime, and you can lead your
Gentiles elsewhere than against your own kin. Turn your face westward,
John Gib. I, too, can dream dreams and see visions, and it is borne in
on me that your road is plain before you. Lead this great people away
from the little shielings of Virginia, over the hills and over the
great mountains and the plains beyond, and on and on till you come to
an abiding city. You will find idolaters enough to dispute your road,
and you can guide your flock as the Lord directs you. Then you will be
clear of the murderer's guilt who would stain his hands in kindly
blood."

He lifted his great head, and the marks of the sacrifice were still on
his brow.

"D'ye think that would be the Lord's will?" he asked innocently.

"I declare it unto you," said I. "I have been sent by God to save your
soul. I give you yo