"The word _Stornoway_ made the whole thing clear to me. The prisoner was
the man I had noticed with a pencil and paper among the fishers in
Donald Brae's cottage. Yes, indeed he was! I knew then why I had been
sent to Glasgow. I walked quickly to the bar, and lifting my bonnet from
my head, I said to the judge, 'My lord, the prisoner _was_ in Stornoway
on the first of June. I saw him there!'
"He gave a great cry of joy and turned to me; and in a moment he called
out: 'You are the man who read the Bible to the fishers. I remember you.
I have your likeness among my drawings.' And I said, 'I am the man.'
"Then my lord, the judge, made them swear me, and he said they would
hear my evidence. For one moment I was a coward. I thought I would hide
God's share in the deliverance, lest men should doubt my whole
testimony. The next, I was telling the true story: how I had been called
at midnight--twice called; how I had found Evan Conochie's boat waiting
for me; how on the boat I had met David MacPherson, and been brought to
the court house by him, having no intention or plan of my own in the
matter.
"And there was a great awe in the room as I spoke. Every one believed
what I said, and my lord asked for the names of the fishers who were
present in Donald Brae's cottage on the night of the first of June. Very
well, then, I could give many of them, and they were sent for, and the
lad was saved, thank God Almighty!"
"How do you explain it, John?"
"No, I will not try to explain it; for it is not to be hoped that anyone
can explain by human reason the things surpassing human reason."
"Do you know what became of the young man?"
"I will tell thee about him. He is a very rich young man, and the only
child of a widow, known like Dorcas of old for her great goodness to the
Lord's poor. But when his mother died it did not go well and peaceably
between him and his uncle; and it is true that he left him at Ullapool
without a word. Well, then, he fell into this sore strait, and it seemed
as if all hope of proving his innocence was over.
"But that very night on which I saw him first, he dreamed that his
mother came to him in his cell and she comforted him and told him,
'To-morrow, surely, thy deliverer shall speak for thee.' He never
doubted the heavenly vision. 'How could I?' he asked me. 'My mother
never deceived me in life; would she come to me, even in a dream, to
tell me a lie? Ah, no!'"
"Is he still alive?"
"God preserve him for many a year yet! I'll only require to speak his
name"--and when he had done so, I knew the secret spring of thankfulness
that fed the never-ceasing charity of one great, good man.
"And yet, John," I urged, "how can spirit speak with spirit?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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