Poor fellow! He had prayed and hoped to escape from this terrible doom. And that his prayers had not been answered in the way he had expected had made him question whether God did see and know all that happened to His children in this world, or whether the argument he heard in prison, that every man was left to fight for himself and do the best he could for himself, was not true after all.
He had reached this point, but could not quite give up all hope in God and His loving care; and now the sight of this woman's face and the tender look in her eyes made him lay hold of his old faith and hope with a tighter grip once more.
There was not much accommodation for the crowd of convicts on board the wherry, barely standing room for them, in fact, at the end where they were crowded together; but Eric, with hope revived once more, could look out how to help some of his fellow convicts worse off than himself. He had got a place on the outermost edge of the crowd, but there were two poor women close by who could scarcely stand from weakness and fatigue, and so he offered to give up his place to somebody that wanted it, if they would stand close, so as to make room for the women to sit down.
"One of 'em is your mother, I 'spose," said the man; but though he said this in a sneering tone, he contrived to make some of the others move so as to leave space for the women to sit down, and, as the rest could see over their heads if they sat at the side of the boat, this was also accorded them.
Eric did not know that his action had been noticed by any one, and was greatly surprised when one of the warders touched him on the shoulder and told him he was wanted. He was near the middle of the crowd then, and not sorry to get away from his close quarters, though what he could be wanted for he did not know, and rather dreaded to discover.
But, to his relief, he saw the woman he had noticed when he came on board watching for him as he struggled through the crowd, and the warder said, "You can try him if you like, but I must keep my eye upon him till I give him up to the captain of the vessel presently."
"Will you give me your word not to try to escape?" asked the woman, looking earnestly at Eric. "I think I may trust you," she added.
"I promise," said Eric, though he felt it somewhat hard to give it, for all along he had indulged the hope of being able to get away from this unjust imprisonment, and he supposed there would be some facility for this presently, and it was hard that he should thus be required to give up the last shred of hope, so far as this world was concerned. But having given his word he would never make the attempt now.
"I want you to help me with these poor people," she said, as they moved a little way from the edge of the crowd. "I saw you give up your place to those poor women, and I noticed you as you came on board. How old are you?"
"Fifteen next month, ma'am."