“O, mother, I know I am a wicked, ungrateful boy.”
“No more so than the rest of us. Since you left home, I have suffered all but death; but I have also experienced a great joy. When Ben was first taken sick, he had a high fever; then he was out of his head; after that he went into a sog. At last there came a night, O, what a night! I could scarce get wood to keep from freezing; the sea roared as though it would come into the house; I thought Ben would die before morning. As I sat here, just where I do now, something seemed to say, ‘There’s no help for you on this earth; look to God!’ I did look to God; and I made a promise that I mean to keep! I looked for Ben to die when the tide turned; and such horrible thoughts as passed through my mind, that I could not move him from the bed, nor bury him; and to be here alone with a corpse! but when the day broke, I saw he was better. What sweet joy and love sprang up in my heart! You must pray to God this night, this moment, Charlie.”
“I will do anything you want me to, mother.”
“You must do it because it is right, not because I want you to.”
“I feel ashamed to, when I think how good He has been to me, and how meanly I have used Him; but if you will pray for me right here, I will pray for myself when I go to bed.”
When Ben had regained in some measure his strength, Sally told him all her heart.
“These things,” replied he, “are not new to me. In boyhood, yes, even in childhood, they were familiar to and grew up with me. There are trees growing on our point that were bushes when I prayed under them. After I went to sea, these impressions faded out; but the death of John brought them back; and since I have left off drinking spirit, they have increased in power. The day before I was taken sick, as I lay on the rocks watching for birds, and thinking of John, and how quick he went, the thought, Are you ready to follow him? came in my mind with such distinctness, that I turned round to see who spoke to me. On the rocks, right there, I cried to God, which I had not done since I was fifteen. I think I see men as trees walking; and I mean to follow after the little glimmering of light that I have.”
Ben now improved, the great bones were again clothed with flesh, and the sinews regained their tremendous power.
In a fortnight the boys returned to their work, Charlie having filled the shed with dry wood, and the door-yard with green, cut for the fire. He also left a boy of fifteen to take care of the cattle till Ben recovered his strength.