"He's with the Grigsbys, I guess," said Mr. Lincoln.
The two men went to their beds, and Waubeno laid down on a mat on the floor. Hour after hour passed, and Mrs. Lincoln went again and again to the door and listened, but Abraham did not return. It was midnight when she laid down, but even then it was to listen, and not to sleep.
In the morning Abraham returned. His eyes were sunken and his cheeks were white.
"Get me some coffee, mother," he said. "I have not slept a wink to-night."
"Why, where have you been, Abraham?"
"Watchin'—watchin' with a frozen drunken man. I found him on the road, and carried him to Dennis's on my back. He seemed to be dead, but I rubbed him all night long, and he breathed again."
"Why did you not get some one to help you?"
"The boys all left me. They said that old Holmes was not worth revivin', even if he had any life left in him; that it would be better for himself and everybody if he were left to perish."
"Holmes! Did you carry that man on your back, Abraham?"
"Yes. I could not leave him by the road. He is a human being, and I did by him as I would have him do by me if I lost my moral senses. They told me to leave him to his fate, but I couldn't, mother. I couldn't."