ne. Let her sins be what they may, she is
penitent. She is calling for her husband. She is calling on you to
send him. It is her last request--her last prayer. Grant it, and
heaven will bless you."

The poor old priest was cruelly distressed.

"My good lad," he cried, "it is impossible. There is a ship outside
to watch us. Twice a day I have to signal with the flag that the
prisoner is safe, and twice a day the bell of the vessel answers me.
It is impossible, I say, impossible, impossible! It cannot be done.
There is no way."

"Leave it to me, and I will find a way," said Jason.

But the old priest only wrung his hands, and cried, "I dare not; I
must not; it is more than my place is worth."

"He will come back," said Jason.

"Only last week," said the priest, "I had a message from Reykjavik
which foreshadowed his death. He knows it, we all know it."

"But he will come back," said Jason, again.

"My good lad, how can you say so? Where have you lived to think it
possible? Once free of the place where the shadow of death hangs over
him, what man alive would return to it."

"He will come back," said Jason, firmly; "I know he will, I swear he
will."

"No, no," said the old man. "I'm only a simple old priest, buried
alive these thirty years, or nearly, on this lonely island of the
frozen seas, but I know better than that. It isn't in human nature,
my good lad, and no man that breathes can do it. Then think of me,
think of me!"

"I do think of you," said Jason, "and to show you how sure I am that
he will come back, I will make you an offer."

"What is it?" said the priest.

"To stand as your bondman while he is away," said Jason.

"What! Do you know what you are saying?" cried the priest.

"Yes," said Jason, "for I came to say it."

"Do you know," said the priest, "that any day, at any hour, the
sailors from yonder ship may come to execute my poor prisoner?"

"I do. But what of that?" said Jason. "Have they ever been here
before?"

"Never," said the priest.

"Do they know your prisoner from another man?"

"No."

"Then where is your risk?" said Jason.

"My risk? Mine?" cried the priest, with the great drops bursting from
his eyes, "I was thinking of yours. My lad, my good lad, you have
made me ashamed. If you dare risk your life, I dare risk my place,
and I'll do it; I'll do it."

"God bless you!" said Jason.

"And now let us go to him," said the priest. "He is in yonder room,
poor soul. When t