On the party went, now turning rapidly to the right, now to the left, till Charley felt convinced that they were attempting to mislead him. At last, strong as he was, he was almost ready to drop with fatigue. The men who held him were frequently changed, as if they too were knocked up with their work. Suddenly they stopped, declaring they could go no further, and that there could not be a more convenient place for getting rid of their prisoners.
“Heave them over the cliff!” said one, in a low, savage tone. “The water is deep, and they will be soon washed out to sea.”
“Not so certain of that,” said another; “better make some stones fast to their feet to sink them.”
“Just to prove that they came to their end by foul means!” observed a third with a sneer. “No, no, heave ’em over here, they’ll never speak again after they reach the bottom, and no one will be able to tell but what they fell over of themselves.”
This agreeable discussion afforded Charley the first intimation that old Tom was near him, and directly afterwards he heard his voice saying, “Do what you like with me, mates, but let that young lad go free. How would you like to have one of your own boys or young brothers treated as you threaten to treat him? There’s life and work and happiness in him, and you’d just knock it all to pieces for the sake of a paltry revenge. What good can killing the boy do to any of you? Why, I’ll tell you—murder will out, and you’ll all be hanged, every one of you.”
“Hold your jaw!” exclaimed one of the smugglers; “we’ve made up our minds, and you’ll both go the same way.”
Neither Charley nor Tom were of a disposition to beg for their lives; besides, they believed that if the ruffians had determined to kill them, no entreaties would make them alter their minds. Charley, not to lose precious time, tried to prepare himself for death; he thought of the sins he had committed, and endeavoured to repent of them; he forgave all his enemies, even those who were about to kill him, and then, claiming no merit for anything he had ever done, he cast himself at the feet of One he knew to be full of love, and mighty to save. Such is the way a true Christian and a brave man would prepare himself for that great change which must come on all of us.
“Are you going to say your prayers, young man, before we heave you off?” asked a smuggler, in a gruff voice.
“I have said them, thank you,” answered Charley, calmly. “Tom, have you said yours? Have you made your peace with Heaven in the only way it can be made?”
“Yes, Mr Charles, I’ve done that for many a day. When I first came to live on shore with the captain, ‘Tom,’ says he, ‘we must all die, and as we know not the day we should always be ready,’ so he showed me the way to be ready, and I’ve kept ready ever since.”