The Witness

urning, fiery furnace below him. Whether his senses came back sufficiently to guide him along the narrow footing that was left, to t

gh walls of smoke. Smoke that reached to heaven, roofing him away from it, and had its foundations down in the burning fiery pit of hell where he could hear lost souls struggling with smothered cries for help. Smoke that filled his throat, eyes, brain,

ide of the walls of smoke, the firemen perhaps, and by-standers, might think that light came from the fire down in the pit, but he knew it did not. It radiated from the Presence beside him. And there was a Voice, calling his name. He seemed to have heard the

ad been looking upon that face but a few moments before? He knew. It was that brave spirit come back from the pit. Co

l. You were in college. You were down th

and I was down there just now, saving men.

nly he un

l's Christ! The Christ he spo

. He let me live in Him. I am the Ch

s heart was stri

t was against reason. Bu

d n

do you wa

all be

gh suspended space as he was borne along, and after, when the smoke gave way, and air, blessed air, was wafted in, there was the Pres

were the white hospital walls, so like the walls of smoke at first in the dim light, high above him. When he had gr

there, huddled in a group by the d

d turned with a gulp while the tears rolled

cing the bandage. When he closed his eyes the Pres

saw the nurse and other faces. He did not look again for the Presence. He had come to understand he could not see it with

had been draped in black, with its flag at half-mast, the proper time, and its mour

noisiness to suit an invalid. They told him all their news, what games had been won, who had made

his desk and wreathed around his mother's picture. A quaint little photograph of Stephen taken several years bac

out the walls; and conspicuous between the windows hung framed the resolutions concerning Stephen the

rn, marked, soft with use. His mother had wished it to remain. Only his clothes had been sent back to her who had sent him for

ed the room and

derly. The simple saint-like face of the plain farmer's-wife-mother looked down upon it all with peace and resignati

by the little table, laying his

ashamed of dwelling upon the thought, ashamed of liking to feel that the Presence was near when he was falling asleep at night. Most of all he had felt a shame and a land of perplexity in the biblical-literature class where he faced "FACTS" as the professor called them, spoken in capitals. Sci

-old Bible thumbed and beloved, he knew he had been wrong. He knew he would never be the same. That Presence, Whoever, Whatever it was, had entered into his life

st to touch it and think how the other boy had done. The soft, much-turned leaves fell open

eyes followe

the Son of God hath t

look of his mother's face, or the joy of a summer morning. It was not anything he could analyze. One might argue that there was no suc

w he turned over

, he shall know of the doct

n offer, why no

he open book with the ol

wilt Thou ha

cautiously, quietly; then, with a nod to Ten

but there was a light of something

ho had been lost and was found on some perilous h

r with gentle roughness, "Great little old room, isn't it? The f

He could not yet speak lightly of the hero-marty

lly," he said, turning from one to the other gravely, "I want to tell yo

im. They led him away to his room and left him to rest. Then they walked with solemn

l looked up from the

room," said Tennelly, glo

Pat. (He had cut out swearing for

tty in the bean! You ought to have heard him talk. Say! I don't believe it was all the fire. Court's been studying too hard. He's

oss the room. It was the old cry

ghting a cigarette. "Pity the frat. dance is over. He needs to get him a girl. Be a great

e won't notice her any more than a fly on

Gila on the job. I've got a date with her to-morrow night and I'll put her wise. She'll j

e?" asked Tennell

iking, with big eyes. A perfe

l see through her in half a second

just be as innocent. They'll be chums in half a

t it's worth trying, for if Court keeps on like this we'll all be

h. "Nelly, my infant, I tell you Gila never fails. If she gets on th

hen I see it," sai

re in for a banquet during vacation. F