He thanked me by raising his clasped hands, and said something, I knew not what, as I hurried on.

A little while afterwards I stopped to have my breakfast, when the boy passed.

As soon as he saw me he fell down upon his knees and "kotow'd" to me, with every mark of the liveliest gratitude.

I felt touched by the poor fellow's gratitude--he could not have been more than fifteen--and mean, to think that the benefaction, which in his eyes appeared so generous, was little more than one penny.

There can be no doubt that I gained merit by this action, for this very afternoon as I was on the track a large stone the size of a shell from a 50-ton gun fell from the crag above me, struck the rock within two paces of me, and shot past into the river.