Page:Old ninety-nine's cave.djvu/34

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paid his next visit, he grasped those black hands and in a tone of profound respect said: "Reuben, your master will live and you, not I, have saved his life."

Falling on his knees, Reuben poured forth his soul in an earnest prayer. Unconsciously, the doctor knelt beside him, bowing his head on those faithful black shoulders, and the man of science and the descendant of Ham were one in the presence of their Maker. A silence as of death followed and then a voice low and sweet, but trembling with emotion, came from the doorway:

"On Christ, the solid rock, I stand,
All other ground is sinking sand."

The dim morning light, with the stars still twinkling in the heavens, the rude log house in a strange country,—the picture is not soon forgotten.

How the tedious weeks of convalescence were brightened by those honest people. They could not do enough and blamed themselves for former neglect. Delicacies from