"Look how I have lived and thriven, with the heart-ache gnawing at me at home, and the winds of the icy north whistling round me here! I am the strongest man among you.

Why?
I have fought through hardships that have laid the best-seasoned men of all our party on their backs.

Why?
What have _I_ done, that my life should throb as bravely through every vein in my body at this minute, and in this deadly place, as ever it did in the wholesome breezes of home?
What am I preserved for?
I tell you again, for the coming of one day--for the meeting with one man." He paused once more.

This time Crayford spoke.
"Richard!" he said, "since we first met, I have believed in your better nature, against all outward appearance.

I have believed in you, firmly, truly, as your brother might.