"Good God!" exclaimed a voice.
So rapt had been the attention of the hearers that at this unexpected interruption the women screamed and the men made a wide path for the figure that burst through them and rushed toward the platform.
The speaker paused and fixed his eye upon the man who pressed eagerly toward him.
"Tell me whether a red line is drawn down the edge of that chapter, and a hand is pointing toward the fifth and sixth verses!" he cried.
"It is," replied the lumberman.
"Then let me take it!" exclaimed David, reaching out his trembling hands.
"What for?"
"Because it is mine! I am the man who proclaimed the holy faith, and, God forgive me, abandoned it even as you received it!"
The astonished lumberman handed him the Bible, and he covered it with kisses and tears. In the meantime, the crowd, excited by the spectacular elements of the drama, surged round the actors, and the preacher, reaching down, took David by the arm and raised him to the platform.
"Be quiet, my friends," he said with a gesture of command, "and when this prodigal has regained his composure we will ask him to tell us his story."