The day before I was arrested I begged my sister to flee to the mainland with me but she refused with the words that she had said to me a hundred times before--'Neil, I must marry the prophet!' Don't you see there is nothing to do--but to kill Strang ?" Nathaniel thrust his hand into a pocket of the coat he had loaned to Neil and drew forth his pipe and tobacco pouch.

As he loaded the pipe he looked squarely into the other's eyes and smiled.
"Neil," he said softly.

"Do you know that you would have made an awful fool of yourself if I hadn't hove in sight just when I did ?" He lighted his pipe with exasperating coolness, still smiling over its bowl.
"You are not going to kill Strang to-morrow," he added, throwing away the match and placing both hands on Neil's shoulders.

His eyes were laughing with the joy that shone in them.

"Neil, I am ashamed of you! You have worried a devilish lot over a very simple matter.