I wouldn't give the poor old _Belle_ another half-hour," said the mate.
In a minute or two the cripples were safe, and Ferrier was in the power of Blair and Lennard, who threatened to pull his bruised arms away.

The two gentlemen pretended to be in an uproarious state of jollity, and to hear them trying to say, "Ha! ha!" like veritable war-horses, while the tears rolled down their cheeks, was a very instructive experience.
And now I must speak of a matter which may possibly offend the finer instincts of a truly moral age.

Mrs.Walton totally forgot matronly reserve; she stepped up to Mr.Ferrier, and, saying, "My brave fellow" (it is a wicked world, and I must speak truth about it)--yes, she said, "My brave fellow!" and then she kissed him! Blair's sister, Mrs.
Hellier, was more Scotch in accent than her brother, and she crowned the improprieties of this most remarkable meeting by giving the modest young savant _two_ kisses--I am accurate as to the number--and saying, "My bonny lad, you needn't mind me; I have three sons as big as yourself." Then the battered hero was welcomed by two joyous girls, and the young Scotch niece said, "We fairly thought you were gone, Mr.Ferrier, and all of us cried, and Miss Dearsley worst of all." Half dazed, starving, weary to the edge of paralysis, the young doctor staggered below, ate cautiously a little bread and milk, bathed himself, and ended this phase of his lesson with an ecstatic stretch on a couch that was heavenly to his wrenched limbs.

Before he sank over into the black sleep of exhausted men, he saw Henry Fullerton's beautiful eyes bent on him.

The evangelist patted the young doctor's shoulder and said, "God has sent a sign to show that you are a chosen worker; you durst not reject it; you have gone through the valley of the shadow of death, and you must not neglect the sign lest you displease the One who made you His choice.
I've heard already what the men say about you.