rd one
by one.

"Some there were," said the lame man impressively, "who hung back, and
some who at first did not believe in the lifeboat, and _refused_ to
leave the doomed ship. There was _no hope_ for those who refused--none
whatever; but they gave in at last. God put it into their hearts to
_trust_ the lifeboat, and so the whole were rescued and brought in
safety to the land."

"Well done!" burst from the hulking man with the broken nose, and a deep
sigh of relief escaped from many of the women; but there was instant
silence again, for the speaker's hand was up, his eyes were glittering,
and his lips compressed. Every one knew that more was coming, and they
bent forward.

Then, in a low soft voice, he began to tell of a dark but quiet night,
and a slumbering city; of a little spark, which like sin in a child, was
scarcely visible at first, but soon grew fierce and spread, until it
burst out in all the fury of an unquenchable fire. He told of the
alarm, the shouts of "_Fire_!" the rushing to the rescue, and the
arrival of the engines and the fire-escape. Then he described the
horror of a young woman in the burning house, who, awaking almost too
late, found herself on the very edge of destruction, with the black
smoke circling round and the impassable gulf of flame below. Just then
the head of the fire-escape approached her, and a man with extended arms
was seen a few feet below her, calling out, "Come!"

Like some of those in the shipwreck, she did not at first believe in the
fire-escape. She could not _trust_. She _would not_ leap. While in
that condition there was no hope for her, but God put it into her heart
to trust. She leaped, and was saved!

The speaker stopped. Again there was a sigh of relief and a tendency to
cheer on the part of the hulking man, but once more the sparkling eyes
and compressed lips riveted the people and tied their tongues. In
another moment the missionary had them on a battlefield, which he
described with thrilling power, passing rapidly from the first bugle
call through all the fight, until the foe was finally put to flight amid
the shouts of "Victory!"

"Men and women," he said in conclusion, "I am painting no fancy
pictures. The things I have told to you did really happen, and four
dear brothers of my own were chief actors in the scenes described. They
helped to rescue the perishing from the sea and from the fire, and
joined in the shout of Victory! on the battlefie