out of him. He eyed me almost shamefacedly at first, by and by more
boldly.

"I would give, sir," said Pilot Matthey, "I would give half my
worldly goods to lead you to the Lord."

"I believe you," said I. "To my knowledge you have often risked more
than that--your life--to save men from drowning. But tell me--you
that for twenty minutes have been telling these fellows how Christ
feels towards them--how can you know? It is hard enough, surely, to
get inside any man's feelings. How can you pretend to know what
Christ feels, or felt--for an instance, in the Judgment Hall, when
Peter denied?"

"Once I did, sir," said Pilot Matthey, smoothing the worn knees of
his trousers. "It was just that. I'll tell you:"


"It happened eighteen or twenty years ago, on the old _Early and
Late_--yes, twenty years come Christmas, for I mind that my eldest
daughter was expectin' her first man-child, just then. You saw him
get aboard just now, praise the Lord! But at the time we was all
nervous about it--my son-in-law, Daniel, bein' away with me on the
East Coast after the herrings. I'd as good as promised him to be
back in time for it--this bein' my first grandchild, an' due (so well
as we could calculate) any time between Christmas an' New Year.
Well, there was no sacrifice, as it happened, in startin' for home--
the weather up there keepin' monstrous, an' the catches not worth the
labour. So we turned down Channel, the wind strong an' dead foul--
south at first, then west-sou'-west--headin' us all the way, and