The Little Minister
Page 45
Chapter Forty-Four.
END OF THE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS.
Out of the mist came the voice of Gavin, clear and strong--
"If you hear me, hold up your hands as a sign."
They heard, and none wondered at his voice crossing the chasm whiletheirs could not. When the mist cleared, they were seen to have doneas he bade them. Many hands remained up for a time because the peopledid not remember to bring them down, so great was the awe that hadfallen on all, as if the Lord was near.
Gavin took his watch from his pocket, and he said--
"I am to fling this to you. You will give it to Mr. Ogilvy, theschoolmaster, as a token of the love I bear him."
The watch was caught by James Langlands, and handed to Peter Tosh, thechief elder present.
"To Mr. Ogilvy," Gavin continued, "you will also give the chain. Youwill take it off my neck when you find the body.
"To each of my elders, and to Hendry Munn, kirk officer, and to myservant Jean, I leave a book, and they will go to my study and chooseit for themselves.
"I also leave a book for Nanny Webster, and I charge you, Peter Tosh,to take it to her, though she be not a member of my church.
"The pictorial Bible with 'To my son on his sixth birthday' on it, Ibequeath to Rob Dow. No, my mother will want to keep that. I give toRob Dow my Bible with the brass clasp.
"It is my wish that every family in the congregation should have somelittle thing to remember me by. This you will tell my mother.
"To my successor I leave whatsoever of my papers he may think of anyvalue to him, including all my notes on Revelation, of which I meantto make a book. I hope he will never sing the paraphrases.
"If Mr. Carfrae's health permits, you will ask him to preach thefuneral sermon; but if he be too frail, then you will ask Mr. Trail,under whom I sat in Glasgow. The illustrated 'Pilgrim's Progress' onthe drawers in my bedroom belongs to Mr. Trail, and you will return itto him with my affection and compliments.
"I owe five shillings to Hendry Munn for mending my boots, and asmaller sum to Baxter, the mason. I have two pounds belonging to RobDow, who asked me to take charge of them for him. I owe no other mananything, and this you will bear in mind if Matthew Cargill, theflying stationer, again brings forward a claim for the price ofWhiston's 'Josephus,' which I did not buy from him.
"Mr. Moncur, of Aberbrothick, had agreed to assist me at theSacrament, and will doubtless still lend his services. Mr. Carfrae orMr. Trail will take my place if my successor is not elected by thattime. The Sacrament cups are in the vestry press, of which you willfind the key beneath the clock in my parlor. The tokens are in thetopmost drawer in my bedroom.
"The weekly prayer-meeting will be held as usual on Thursday at eighto'clock, and the elders will officiate.
"It is my wish that the news of my death be broken to my mother by Mr.Ogilvy, the schoolmaster, and by no other. You will say to him thatthis is my solemn request, and that I bid him discharge it withoutfaltering and be of good cheer.
"But if Mr. Ogilvy be not now alive, the news of my death will bebroken to my mother by my beloved wife. Last night I was married onthe hill, over the tongs, but with the sanction of God, to her whomyou call the Egyptian, and despite what has happened since then, ofwhich you will soon have knowledge, I here solemnly declare that sheis my wife, and you will seek for her at the Spittal or elsewhere tillyou find her, and you will tell her to go to my mother and remain withher always, for these are the commands of her husband."
It was then that Gavin paused, for Lord Rintoul had that to say to himwhich no longer could be kept back. All the women were crying sore,and also some men whose eyes had been dry at the coffining of theirchildren.
"Now I ken," said Cruickshanks, who had been an atheist, "that it'sonly the fool wha' says in his heart, 'There is no God.'"
Another said, "That's a man."
Another said, "That man has a religion to last him all through."
A fourth said, "Behold, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."
A fifth said, "That's our minister. He's the minister o' the AuldLicht Kirk o' Thrums. Woe is me, we're to lose him."
Many cried, "Our hearts was set hard against him. O Lord, are youangry wi' your servants that you're taking him frae us just when weken what he is?"
Gavin did not hear them, and again he spoke:
"My brethren, God is good. I have just learned that my wife is with mydear mother at the manse. I leave them in your care and in His."
No more he said of Babbie, for the island was become very small.
"The Lord calls me hence. It is only for a little time I have beenwith you, and now I am going away, and you will know me no more. Toogreat has been my pride because I was your minister, but He who sentme to labor among you is slow to wrath; and He ever bore in mind thatyou were my first charge. My people, I must say to you, 'Farewell.'"
Then, for the first time, his voice faltered, and wanting to go on hecould not. "Let us read," he said, quickly, "in the Word of God in thefourteenth of Matthew, from the twenty-eighth verse."
He repeated these four verses:--
"'And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it be Thou, bid me comeunto Thee on the water.
"'And He said, Come. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, hewalked on the water, to go to Jesus.
"'But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning tosink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.
"'And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand and caught him, andsaid unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?'"
After this Gavin's voice was again steady, and he said, "Thesand-glass is almost run out. Dearly beloved, with what words shall Ibid you good-by?"
Many thought that these were to be the words, for the mist parted, andthey saw the island tremble and half of it sink.
"My people," said the voice behind the mist, "this is the text I leavewith you: 'Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where mothand rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; butlay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rustdoth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.' Thattext I read in the flood, where the hand of God has written it. Allthe pound-notes in the world would not dam this torrent for a moment,so that we might pass over to you safely. Yet it is but a trickle ofwater, soon to be dried up. Verily, I say unto you, only a few hoursago the treasures of earth stood between you and this earl, and whatare they now compared to this trickle of water? God only can turnrivers into a wilderness, and the water-springs into dry ground. LetHis Word be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path; may Hebe your refuge and your strength. Amen."
This amen he said quickly, thinking death was now come. He was seen toraise his hands, but whether to Heaven or involuntarily to protect hisface as he fell none was sure, for the mist again filled the chasm.Then came a clap of stillness. No one breathed.
But the two men were not yet gone, and Gavin spoke once more.
"Let us sing in the twenty-third Psalm."
He himself raised the tune, and so long as they heard his voice theysang--
"The Lord's my shepherd, I'll not want; He makes me down to lie In pastures green; He leadeth me The quiet waters by.
"My soul He doth restore again; And me to walk doth make Within the paths of righteousness Ev'n for His own name's sake.
"Yea, though I walk in Death's dark vale, Yet will I fear none ill; For Thou art with me; and Thy rod And staff----"
But some had lost the power to sing in the first verse, and others at"Death's dark vale," and when one man found himself singing alone hestopped abruptly. This was because they no longer heard the minister.
"O Lord!" Peter Tosh cried, "lift the mist, for it's mair than we canbear."
The mist rose slowly, and those who had courage to look saw Gavinpraying with the earl. Many could not look, and some of them did noteven see Rob Dow jump.
For it was Dow, t
he man with the crushed leg, who saved Gavin's life,and flung away his own for it. Suddenly he was seen on the edge of thebank, holding one end of the improvised rope in his hand. As Toshsays--
"It all happened in the opening and shutting o' an eye. It's a queerthing to say, but though I prayed to God to take awa the mist, when Hedid raise it I couldna look. I shut my een tight, and held my armafore my face, like ane feared o' being struck. Even when I daured tolook, my arm was shaking so that I could see Rob both above it andbelow it. He was on the edge, crouching to leap. I didna see wha hadhaud o' the other end o' the rope. I heard the minister cry, 'No, Dow,no!' and it gae through me as quick as a stab that if Rob jumped hewould knock them both into the water. But he did jump, and you ken howit was that he didna knock them off."
It was because he had no thought of saving his own life. He jumped,not at the island, now little bigger than the seat of a chair, but atthe edge of it, into the foam, and with his arm outstretched. For asecond the hand holding the rope was on the dot of land. Gavin triedto seize the hand; Rintoul clutched the rope. The earl and theminister were dragged together into safety, and both left the watersenseless. Gavin was never again able to lift his left hand higherthan his head. Dow's body was found next day near the school-house.