Gavin did not hear them, and again he spoke: 

“My brethren, God is good.  I have just learned that my wife is with my dear mother at the manse.  I leave them in your care and in His.”

No more he said of Babbie, for the island was become very small.

“The Lord calls me hence.  It is only for a little time I have been with you, and now I am going away, and you will know me no more.  Too great has been my pride because I was your minister, but He who sent me to labor among you is slow to wrath; and He ever bore in mind that you were my first charge.  My people, I must say to you, ‘Farewell.’”

Then, for the first time, his voice faltered, and wanting—­to go on he could not.  “Let us read,” he said, quickly, “in the Word of God in the fourteenth of Matthew, from the twenty-eighth verse.”

He repeated these four verses:—­

“’And Peter answered Him and said, Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come unto Thee on the water.

“’And He said, Come.  And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.

“’But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.

“’And immediately Jesus stretched forth His hand and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?’”

After this Gavin’s voice was again steady, and he said, “The sand-glass is almost run out.  Dearly beloved, with what words shall I bid you good-by?”

Many thought that these were to be the words, for the mist parted, and they saw the island tremble and half of it sink.

“My people,” said the voice behind the mist, “this is the text I leave with you:  ’Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.’  That text I read in the flood, where the hand of God has written it.  All the pound-notes in the world would not dam this torrent for a moment, so that we might pass over to you safely.  Yet it is but a trickle of water, soon to be dried up.  Verily, I say unto you, only a few hours ago the treasures of earth stood between you and this earl, and what are they now compared to this trickle of water?  God only can turn rivers into a wilderness, and the water-springs into dry ground.  Let His Word be a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path; may He be your refuge and your strength.  Amen.”

This amen he said quickly, thinking death was now come.  He was seen to raise his hands, but whether to Heaven or involuntarily to protect his face as he fell none was sure, for the mist again filled the chasm.  Then came a clap of stillness.  No one breathed.

But the two men were not yet gone, and Gavin spoke once more.

“Let us sing in the twenty-third Psalm.”