fatigue, and even discouragement, that I had never seen in it before. For the first time since his memorable accident, I felt compelled to inquire after the state of his health. The captain's reply was as surprising to me as it was painful.

My dear friend," he said, "the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I suppose, Charles, that if I conferred with flesh and blood, I should be on my bed; for I need rest. But the Lord bids me labor on, hope on; and so I must be about my Master's business. Charles, there is a cloud on the horizon - no bigger, at present, than a man's hand; but it may grow and cover the whole heavens at last. Nevertheless, God is behind the cloud. You and I had a little talk once, if you remember, in reference to Church-connection. You seemed to think it would greatly relieve my labors and be for the best interests of the mission, if placed under the control of the Church. Monied men would have more confidence in it, you thought. Well, Charles, I pondered and prayed over the question many days and many weeks, and came to the conclusion that it would never, never do for me to be trammelled or hampered in any way, shape, or form,

that I needed no Master but the Lord and no guidance but the Holy Spirit. I settled the matter in my own mind, dismissed all further thought about Church-connection, and went on my way rejoicing. So it has been going along till the other day, when my good old friend, Brother Buckminster, put the case to me in such a shape that there seems to be no getting away from it. Now, Charles, it has come to this I must do one of two things. I must either cut adrift

from Brother Buckminster and

you

know what that means

- or I must do violence to my principles and my strongest convictions. So, Charles, you see I am in a strait betwixt two, and I am only waiting now for the Lord to help me decide. The Lord knows what I most desire - what I believe is best for the mission; but whether, after all, it be the Lord's will or not, He must reveal to me in a more unmistakable way than I have yet seen."

Here, then, was the secret of that disturbed condition of mind which betrayed itself so conspicuously on his countenance and in his whole bearing. I was extremely sorry. knew how objectionable to his strong, independent nature was any alliance that would curb his liberty of action or limit his field of operation. Long ago, I ceased to urge, or even mention, any such arrangement. Few could properly comprehend Captain Antle's views, still fewer, perhaps, quite coincide with him. There is no denying that, in many respects, he was a peculiar person, to say the least, and belonged to that very small class who refuse to be harnessed to any conventional plough or commonplace wagon, whose implements are of their own devising, as well as their methods of using them, and who, if they work at all, work neither in my way nor your way, but only in their own way.

Personally, I could have wished that this crisis had not happened just when it did; for I was about to inform the captain of an event in the near future which would sever our intimate connection and, consequently, forbid my rendering him any longer that little assistance which it had been in my

power to give. It must be confessed that the captain, in spite of his genial disposition and easy friendship with all sorts and conditions of people, was a very lonely man, even for a bachelor. And as almost everyone needs some confidential friend, it seemed to do him good to unbosom himself to me, both in his trials and his triumphs. In this way I was probably more useful to him than in any other; and for this reason I kept postponing the "evil day," when I should have to inform him of what was so rapidly approaching.

From the hour he left his English home, a poor motherless boy, even to this of his mature manhood, George Antle was alone in the world. Thrown thus early on his own resources, there was developed in him a spirit of self-reliance and a marked independence of character that seemed to place him above the need of companionship. But, nevertheless, there were times and seasons when his loneliness appeared to force itself most pathetically on his mind, being all the more touching from the nature of its manifestation. Among the favorite pieces he delighted to have me read to him was Coleridge's "Ancient Mariner," and the lines that seemed to affect him most were those which so vividly portray the loneliness of a solitary human soul:

This he would repeat after me in an undertone, his eyes suffused with tears, and his hand keeping time to the rhythm

of the verse. Not that the captain ever intimated a parallel between himself and the lonely old mariner, or uttered any querulous or morbid complaints whatever, his sympathy seemed to be wholly for that strange man with the glittering eye and skinny hand; nevertheless, as I could easily divine the secret of his heart, I felt a pity for him which I dared not express.

XI.

THAT was my last interview with Captain Antle, previous to leaving the port and taking up my residence in a distant part of the country. But, as I still felt a lively interest in the Water-street Mission, I obtained from Mr. Watson the promise of keeping me in touch with its affairs; so that the concluding chapters of this little work will be made up, for the most part, of extracts from his correspondence.

What rendered this information especially desirable to me at that time was that I had left the captain in an agitated state of mind concerning Church-connection, and the Mission on the eve of an impending crisis. Consequently, I felt no

little anxiety to learn the upshot, knowing well that a change of some kind was inevitable.

So long as the captain believed that his independent attitude towards the Church was best for the Mission, he would surely persist in it, despite all arguments to the contrary; but just so soon as anything occurred to give him a doubt as to his position, he would begin to "take his bearings," as he used to say, and, if convinced that he was steering wrong, shift his course at once. I was sure of this. His stubbornness lasted only so long as he believed himself to be in the right.

Thus far, the Mission had gone on smoothly and well; but I was convinced that, sooner or later, circumstances