ver can be settled; for it sets in comparison the value of two
lives--the one that was and the one that is; and I say that there are
lives--of which yours is one--that belong to others and cannot be
disposed of as if they were a selfish thing. And life is a truer
atonement for sin than death. You owe more than one debt, and you have
no right to pay the one, however great it is, if by the paying of that
you leave the others unpaid."

"Friend," said the trapper, "the girl speaks wisdom; leastwise she
brings matter into the council which men of gravity should not
overlook. The livin' sartinly have claims. What can you say to her
speech?"

For a moment the man made no reply, and then he said:

"My philosophy is based upon a sentiment--a sentiment born of
conscience, and conscience makes duty for us all. There is no reasoning
against conscience. It is the voice of God--the only God we have. My
conscience tells me that there is but one atonement that I can make.
There is no election. I must do it."

"What good," said Herbert, addressing the man, "what good will you do by
dying?"

"I shall satisfy myself," said the man.

"And what right have you to satisfy yourself in such a matter?"
exclaimed the girl. "What right have any of us to satisfy ourselves?
What right have we to be selfish in our death any more than in our life?
Oh, sir, if you saw rightly, you would see that you had no right to
satisfy yourself in this dreadful way. You should satisfy others. They
need you even as the poor need the rich; as the weak need the strong; as
those who are prone, because they cannot lift themselves, need one who
is strong enough to lift them. It is not heroic to die unless the full
object of life is met by the dying. It is heroic to live, because it is
harder than dying. Even death dedicated to atonement can be a greater
sin than the deed which one would atone."

"I know not how the girl has such wisdom," said the trapper, "for she be
young, and yit she sartinly seems to me to have the right of it. I know
not who ye be, nor how many look to ye for help; but ef ye be one that
can help, and there be many that need yer help, I sartinly conceit that
ye should live--live to help 'em."

"You say right! You say right, old man!" exclaimed the girl. "His life
is not a common life. It represents such power and faculty and
opportunity, and I may say such devotion to the many, that it does not
belong to him, and may not therefore be dispose