ike the steam from
an engine as the flood reaches its fire-box; when I saw the hands that
thought they was strong enough to shape the future danglin' between his
crooked knees, an' the eyes that had never before asked mercy lookin'
up glazed an' pitiful, why, it felt to me as if I was just tryin' to
send the strength out of my own body into his. Poor ol' Jabez, he was
cast steel to the finish, no spring, just simply rigid an' stiff, till
at last he broke.

But runnin' the universe is no job for a human; every man would choose
to look his best when he's to meet the one woman; but if Jabez had
still been standin' like a rock an' lookin' out at the world through
eagle-eyes the woman at the door wouldn't never have spoke to him. When
she saw him tired an' broken an' heart-sick of life itself, the mother
in her finally tore out all the wrongs o' the past, an' she crossed the
room an' took one of his hands an' said, "George, you mustn't give up,
you mustn't give up now."

Barbie was holdin' his other hand, an' the ol' man looked first from
one to the other while big tears gathered in his open eyes an' rolled
slowly down his cheeks. I tell you it was a touchy sight, an' I was
sweatin' like a fish when ol' Friar Tuck tip-toed over an' put one hand
on my shoulder an' the other on Jim's, an' said: "They'll get along
better without us, boys. Let's just step outside till they call us."

Oh, I tell you that Friar Tuck was a sky-pilot for true! We sneaked
stealthily to the door, passin' ol' Melisse on the way. She was huddled
up on the floor prayin' in Spanish, an' Friar Tuck rested his hand on
her head a second, an' then we went out into the night air--I can taste
my first breath of it yet.

He went over to see how the crowd was doin' in the storeroom, sayin'
that he thought he'd get some eatin'-things under way to sort of ease
the strain--he knew a human all right, the Friar did. Jim an' I walked
out together under the stars, an' I told him my side of it; an' he told
me that he had met Jack Whitman when he was runnin' a gamblin' place
close to the New Mexico line. Whitman ran it on the square an' he had
saved Jim a lot o' money one night, an' then afterwards Jim had helped
to stand off a hold-up gang, an' a strong feelin' had grew up between
'em. Whitman had told part of the story, but made out that Barbie's
mother was his own sister. When she had left Jabez an' the child--I
don't know, myself, just why she left him. It started