“‘About an hour, though it seems half a day.’
“‘Well, I can hold on for myself now,’ I said. ‘How shall I ever repay you for what you have done? I owe my life to you.’
“‘But mine has belonged to you for twenty years,’ he said, with strange significance, and I noticed that his voice was feeble with continued exertion.
“Just then the waves swept over us more furiously than ever.
“As soon as there was a lull, I asked again—
“‘How came I with this life-preserver?’
“‘I put it on for you, and you must keep it.’
“‘Why must I?’
“‘You don’t remember me,’ he said. ‘You don’t know that it was you who once saved me from a dreadful death, but you will recollect me when I tell you that it was I who was tried for murder twenty years ago in M—— Court-house.’
“He paused again, and feebly strove to collect himself.