one, an answer to shake the faith out of a man's heart, and yet it was
not lost or mocked at, for the true response came in its season. Nay, it
came week by week and hour by hour, seeing that every day through those
awful years the sword of the Strength they had implored protected those
who prayed, holding them harmless in many a desperate peril to reunite
them at the last. The devil is very strong in this world of ours, or so
it seems to me, who have known much of his ways, so strong that perhaps
God must give place to him at times, for if He rules in heaven, I think
that Satan shares His rule on earth. But in the end it is God who wins,
and never, never, need they fear who acknowledge Him and put their faith
in Him, trying the while to live uprightly and conquer the evil of their
hearts. Well, this is only an old woman's wisdom, though it should not
be laughed at, since it has been taught to her by the experience of a
long and eventful life. Such as it is I hope that it may be of service
to those who trust in themselves and not in their Maker.



As the last words of his prayer left Ralph's lips he heard a man laugh
behind him. The two of them sprang to their feet at the sound, and faced
about to see Swart Piet standing within five paces of them, and with him
eight or ten of his black ruffians, who looked upon him as their chief,
and did his needs without question, however wicked they might be.

Now Suzanne uttered a low cry of fear and the blood froze about Ralph's
heart, for he was unarmed and their case was hopeless. Black Piet saw
their fear and laughed again, since like a cat that has caught a mouse
for which it has watched long, he could not resist the joy of torture
before he dealt the death blow.