Gentle in his manner and soft in speech, the chaplain approached the bedside of the wounded smuggler.
“I hope and trust, Murdock, that you are more disposed now to hearken to my counsel. Remember you are at the present time in imminent danger, and there is no telling what may be the result of the terrible injuries you have received. There is no telling how soon you may be called away by a power which is omnipotent. Let me conjure of you to make some amends for the past by a sincere repentance. Remember——”
“I don’t want to be preached to,” interrupted the hardened criminal; “all I want is to be left alone.”
“But it is my duty to endeavour by every means in my power to bring you to a right way of thinking, and I should be sadly unmindful of my sacred mission if I neglected you at this time. I must therefore beg of you to hear me.”
“I don’t want to hear you. I am nearly mad with pain and driven half crazy when I think of being cheated of my liberty. I am done this time, and if I am to slip my moorings, the sooner I do so the better. There, that will do—I don’t want any palaver. You can’t make matters any better.”
“But I hope and trust I can,” returned Mr. Leverall. “Nay, I will venture to assert that I am sure I can if you will be a little reasonable. Come, Murdock, you must not, you will not turn a deaf ear to one who is prompted by the purest and best of motives in striving, as best he can, to soften your heart and make you comprehend your awful position.”
“I know my position well enough. It is a hopeless one. They’ve been killing me by inches for nine long and miserable years. They’ll never be satisfied until they see the breath out of my body, and then—well, then they may cut me up piecemeal in the dissecting-room as soon as they please.”
“Nobody wishes to see you dead, and you are quite wrong in such a supposition. It is not at all likely that anyone in this gaol regards you with personal animosity. It is unjust and unreasonable to suppose such a thing. You are taking a morbid view of things. Now permit me to read to you.”
“No, I won’t be read to. I don’t want any long-worded sermons. I won’t listen. Leave me alone.”
“But I cannot and must not leave you in your present distress. Remember you have a soul to be saved, and you must listen to the words of One who came into the world to save us all.”