some reason he wished to keep his companion
in the crucible as long as possible.

"Young man!" cried Mr. Soden, and the explosive voice seemed to come
from the hell that he had created--"young man! you who have followed the
counsel of evil companions"--here he paused and looked about, as if
trying to find the man he wanted, while Walter crept up close to Bud
and shaded his face--"I mean you who have chosen evil pursuits and who
can not get free from bad habits and associations that are dragging you
down to hell! You are standing on the very crumbling brink of hell
to-night. The smell of the brimstone is on your garments; the hot breath
of hell is in your face! The devils are waiting for you! Delay and you
are damned! You may die before daylight! You may never get out that
door! The awful angel of death is just ready to strike you down!" Here
some shrieked with terror, others sobbed, and Brother Sodom looked with
approval on the storm he had awakened. The very harshness of his tone,
his lofty egotism of manner, that which had roused all Bud's
combativeness, shook poor Walter as a wind would shake a reed. In the
midst of the general excitement he seized his hat and hastened out the
door. Bud followed, while Soden shot his lightnings after them,
declaring that "young men who ran away from the truth would dwell in
torments forever."

Bud had not counted amiss when he thought that Mr. Soden's preaching
would be likely to arouse so mean-spirited a fellow as Walter. So vivid
was the impression that Johnson begged Bud to return to the office with
him. He felt sick, and was afraid that he should die before morning. He
insisted that Bud should stay with him all night. To this Means readily
consented, and by morning he had heard all that the frightened Walter
had to tell.

And now let us return to the trial, where Ralph sits waiting the
testimony of Walter Johnson, which is to prove his statement false.

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE TRIAL CONCLUDED.

I do not know how much interest the "gentle reader" may feel in Bud. But
I venture to hope that there are some Buddhists among my readers who
will wish the contradictoriness of his actions explained. The first dash
of disappointment had well-nigh upset him. And when a man concludes to
throw overboard his good resolutions, he always seeks to avoid the
witness of those resolutions. Hence Bud, after that distressful Tuesday
evening on which Miss Martha had given him "the sack," wis