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His Brother's Keeper, Or, Christian Stewardship
His Brother's Keeper Or Christian Stewardship Author:Charles Monroe Sheldon Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE RESCUE. A S the facts of his position forced themselves more clearly upon him, the first excitement over, Stuart grew calmer. The candle ... more »in his hat was nearly burned out, but he had another one, that, after the fashion of the miners, he had thrust into his boot when he changed his dress in the dry room. He pulled this out and lighted it, putting it in the candle holder in place of the piece so nearly gone. Then he looked at the ladders carefully. The mass of ore which had fallen down the manhole had broken out a dozen rounds at the very foot of the ladder. By stretching up to his full height Stuart could just reach an unbroken round. But what could he do with the dead weight of Eric ? He could never lift him up that distance. For one and only one swift second Stuart considered the thought of leaving Eric. It was simply the love of life asserting itself. Why should both men die ? His death would not save Eric. It was only a second, and then he felt the shock of a statement he made to himself, that life was not worth having if certain memories had always to be carried with one. He could never abandon the man who had once risked his life to save him, when the danger was fully as great as now. " But O God !" Stuart cried out, " to die drowned like a rat in a hole!" The love of life was strong in him. He felt the water rising more and more rapidly. It was nearly to his waist now. He was supporting Eric as comfortably as he could. He felt the blood from the wound in his shoulder warming his own side as he held up the unconscious body. Once in a while Eric stirred. Once he opened his eyes and Stuart thought he was recovering. If only he could regain enough strength to help himself even a little ! Stuart's mind went into a whirl as he thought of all possib...« less