"Not because they forced you--not to save your life--but because it
was right."

"Help me with this bag," was all the reply.

It was a great weight, but not too great for John's young arm,
nervous and strong. He hauled it up.

"Now, open the window--dash the panes through--it matters not. On to
the window, I tell thee."

"But if I do, the bag will fall into the river. You cannot--oh, no!-
-you cannot mean that!"

"Haul it up to the window, John Halifax."

But John remained immovable.

"I must do it myself, then;" and, in the desperate effort he made,
somehow the bag of grain fell, and fell on his lame foot. Tortured
into frenzy with the pain--or else, I will still believe, my old
father would not have done such a deed--his failing strength seemed
doubled and trebled. In an instant more he had got the bag half
through the window, and the next sound we heard was its heavy splash
in the river below.

Flung into the river, the precious wheat, and in the very sight of
the famished rioters! A howl of fury and despair arose. Some
plunged into the water, ere the eddies left by the falling mass had
ceased--but it was too late. A sharp substance in the river's bed