re agnosticism in the little group that gathered around The
Pilot for the nightly reading.

The interest in the reading kept growing night by night.

"Seems as if The Pilot was gittin' in his work," said Bill to me; and
looking at the grave, eager faces, I agreed. He was getting in his work
with Bill, too; though perhaps Bill did not know it. I remember one
night, when the others had gone, The Pilot was reading to us the Parable
of the Talents, Bill was particularly interested in the servant who
failed in his duty.

"Ornery cuss, eh?" he remarked; "and gall, too, eh? Served him blamed
well right, in my opinion!"

But when the practical bearing of the parable became clear to him, after
long silence, he said, slowly:

"Well, that there seems to indicate that it's about time for me to get
a rustle on." Then, after another silence, he said, hesitatingly, "This
here church-buildin' business now, do you think that'll perhaps count,
mebbe? I guess not, eh? 'Tain't much, o' course, anyway." Poor Bill, he
was like a child, and The Pilot handled him with a mother's touch.

"What are you best at, Bill?"

"Bronco-bustin' and cattle," said Bill, wonderingly; "that's my line."

"Well, Bill, my line is preaching just now, and piloting, you know." The
Pilot's smile was like a sunbeam on a rainy day, for there were tears in
his eyes and voice. "And we have just got to be faithful. You see
what he says: 'Well done, good and FAITHFUL servant. Thou hast been
FAITHFUL.'"

Bill was puzzled.

"Faithful!" he repeated. "Does that mean with the cattle, perhaps?"

"Yes, that's just it, Bill, and with everything else that comes your
way."

And Bill never forgot that lesson, for I heard him, with a kind of quiet
enthusiasm, giving it to Hi as a great find. "Now, I call that a fair
deal," he said to his friend; "gives every man a show. No cards up the
sleeve."

"That's so," was Hi's thoughtful reply; "distributes the trumps."

Somehow Bill came to be regarded as an authority upon questions of
religion and morals. No one ever accused him of "gettin' religion." He
went about his work in his slow, quiet way, but he was always sharing
his discoveries with "the boys." And if anyone puzzled him with
subtleties he never rested till he had him face to face with The
Pilot. And so it came that these two drew to each other with more than
brotherly affection. When Bill got into difficulty with problems that
have vexed the souls of men far wise