l shoot
me."

Will's answer was: "You needn't be afraid, John. This revolver isn't
loaded."

But John, seeing his cousin's careless attitude, was afraid; and he
dodged down behind a barrel of carpet-rags near which he had been
standing. It was well that John did not longer remain where he had been;
for the revolver contained a solitary load, and the frequent pulling of
the trigger discharged this. The bullet passed the very spot where John
had a moment before been standing, and lodged itself deep in the side of
the trunk.

This experience marked an awakening-time in all of the boys' lives; at
that moment their consciences, which had almost fallen asleep, were
aroused, and in startling phrases gave them accounts of their evil
deeds. With great haste the boys returned the weapons to their former
hiding place, relocked the trunk, and in so far as it was possible,
covered all the traces of the accident. Then, with hearts full of guilty
thoughts, the three boys hastened from the place where a scene of horror
had very nearly been enacted.

Out in the open, where the air was fresh and pure, their spirits to a
certain degree revived. But their usual laughter, fun, and merry-making
had been dampened; and as they wended their way to the prairie
pasture-land, few words were passed between them. Poor little misguided
boys! warned, and yet left so ignorant of what was the right and the
wrong way.

Through the voice of conscience God endeavored to speak to John and to
tell him that his ways were evil and that he and his cousins would some
day get into serious trouble if they continued in the way they were
going; but, although he was sad, he could not understand. He wanted to
be a good boy for his father's sake (for his father was the best friend
he knew); and most of all he desired to become the man that that parent
had wished him to be. John's disregard for his father's warnings from
time to time had been due to the fear that, if he obeyed, his early
manhood would be hindered.

Could that father have given his little son an object-lesson such as an
aged monk once, while walking through a forest, gave his scholar, John
might have been spared much suffering. The monk, stepping before four
plants that were close by, pointed to the first, a plant just beginning
to peep above the ground; to the second, one well-rooted in the earth;
to the third, a small shrub; and to the fourth, a full-sized tree.

Then turning to his young com