You know you'll never go back till you're the men you want to be.'
Then, lifting up his face and throwing back his head, he said, as if to
himself, 'Jesus! He shall save His people from their sins,' and then,
'Let us pray.'
Graeme leaned forward with his face in his hands; Baptiste and Blaney
dropped on their knees; Sandy, the Campbells, and some others, stood up.
Old man Nelson held his eyes steadily on the minister.
Only once before had I seen that look on a human face. A young fellow
had broken through the ice on the river at home, and as the black water
was dragging his fingers one by one from the slippery edges, there came
over his face that same look. I used to wake up for many a night after
in a sweat of horror, seeing the white face with its parting lips, and
its piteous, dumb appeal, and the black water slowly sucking it down.
Nelson's face brought it all back; but during the prayer the face
changed, and seemed to settle into resolve of some sort, stern, almost
gloomy, as of a man with his last chance before him.
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