"Oh no! no! do you stay Fred, you are the only one that knows what you
are after."

"Well, which of you will go then? It is near two miles, and you must
run, for his _life_--mind that." No one stirred, and Riches at this
moment coming up with the water, Fred told him in few words what he
meant to do, and bade him go and stand by the poor lad. That was all
that could be done, and "Riches don't be hard on them; their consciences
are telling them all you could tell them. Don't lecture them, I mean;
you would not like it yourself."

Off ran Fred, and to his great joy, spying a cart, with one of farmer
Crosse's men in it, he hailed it, told his tale, and thus they were at
L---- in a very short space of time. Terrified indeed was Mrs. Parker at
the sight of her son driving furiously up in farmer Crosse's
spring-cart, and his black eye and swelled face did not tend to pacify
her on nearer inspection. The father, a little more used to be called
out in a hurry, and to prepare for emergencies, was not so alarmed, but
had self-possession enough to remember what would be needed, and to
collect various articles for the patient's use.

The journey to the wood was speedily accomplished, but the poor lads who
were keeping watch, often said afterwards that it seemed to them almost
a lifetime, such was the crowd of fearful and wretched thoughts and
forebodings, such the anxiety, and hopelessness of their situation.
There in the silence of the wood lay their young companion, stretched
lifeless, and they were the cause. The least rustle amongst the leaves
they mistook for a movement of the sufferer; but he moved not. How did
they watch Mr. Parker's face as he knelt down and applied his fingers to
the boy's wrist first, and then to his heart! With what intense anxiety