Page 475 - for-the-term-of-his-natural-life

put into execution a plan which they had carried in their
poor little heads for some weeks.
‘I can do it now,’ said Tommy. ‘I feel strong.’
‘Will it hurt much, Tommy?’ said Billy, who was not so
courageous.
‘Not so much as a whipping.’
‘I’m afraid! Oh, Tom, it’s so deep! Don’t leave me, Tom!’
The bigger boy took his little handkerchief from his neck,
and with it bound his own left hand to his companion’s
right.
‘Now I can’t leave you.’
‘What was it the lady that kissed us said, Tommy?’
‘Lord, have pity on them two fatherless children!’ repeat-
ed Tommy. ‘Let’s say it together.’
And so the two babies knelt on the brink of the cliff, and,
raising the bound hands together, looked up at the sky, and
ungrammatically said, ‘Lord have pity on we two fatherless
children!’ And then they kissed each other, and ‘did it”.
* * * * * *
The intelligence, transmitted by the ever-active sema-
phore, reached the Commandant in the midst of dinner,
and in his agitation he blurted it out.
‘These are the two poor things I saw in the morning,’
cried Sylvia. ‘Oh, Maurice, these two poor babies driven to
suicide!’
‘Condemning their young souls to everlasting fire,’ said
Meekin, piously.
‘Mr. Meekin! How can you talk like that? Poor little crea-
tures! Oh, it’s horrible! Maurice, take me away.’ And she

For the Term of His Natural Life