tbuildings that jutted from the wagon-house there
was some one who was not asleep.

The room was dark; door and shutter were closed; not a ray of light
entered anywhere. The German overseer, to whom the room belonged, lay
sleeping soundly on his bed in the corner, his great arms folded, and
his bushy grey and black beard rising and falling on his breast. But one
in the room was not asleep. Two large eyes looked about in the darkness,
and two small hands were smoothing the patchwork quilt. The boy, who
slept on a box under the window, had just awakened from his first sleep.
He drew the quilt up to his chin, so that little peered above it but a
great head of silky black curls and the two black eyes. He stared
about in the darkness. Nothing was visible, not even the outline of one
worm-eaten rafter, nor of the deal table, on which lay the Bible from
which his father had read before they went to bed. No one could tell
where the toolbox was, and where the fireplace. There was something very
impressive to the child in the complete darkness.

At the head of his father's bed hung a great silver hunting watch. It
ticked loudly. The boy listened to it, and began mechanically to count.
Tick--tick--one, two, three, four! He lost count presently, and only
listened. Tick--tick--tick--tick!

It never waited; it went on inexorably; and every time it ticked a man
died! He raised himself a little on his elbow and listened. He wished it
would leave off.

How many times had it ticked since he came to lie down? A thousand
times, a million times, perhaps.

He tried to count again, and sat up to listen better.

"Dying, dying, dying!" said the watch; "dying, dying, dying!"

He heard it distinctly. Where were they going to, all those people?

He lay down quickly, and pulled the cover up over his head: but
presently the silky curls reappeared.

"Dying, dying, dying!" said the watch; "dying, dying, dying!"

He thought of the words his father had read that evening--"For wide is
the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction and many
there be which go in thereat."

"Many, many, many!" said the watch.

"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, that leadeth unto
life, and few there be that find it."

"Few, few, few!" said the watch.

The boy lay with his eyes wide open. He saw before him a long stream of
people, a great dark multitude, that moved in one direction; then they
came to the dark edge of the world an