Finding a Treasure

There was the same terrible silence about me, and it seemed to grow
deeper. A short time before I had heard Shock breathing hard, but now
his breath came softly, and then seemed to cease.

That silence had lasted some time, when all at once it was broken by my
companion as I knelt there in the soft sand.

"Mars Grant! I say. You awake?"

"Yes."

"What yer doing of?"

"I am saying my prayers."

There was another silence here, and then Shock said softly: "What yer praying for?"

"For help and protection in this terrible place," I cried passionately;
and I crouched down lower as I bowed myself and prayed that I might see
the sunshine and the bright sky once again--that I might live.

Just then a hand was laid upon my shoulder, and I felt Shock's lips
almost touch my ear as he whispered softly: "I say--I want to say my prayers too."

"Well," I said sternly, "pray."

There was again that silence that seemed so painful, and then a low
hoarse voice at my side said slowly: "I can't. I 'most forgets how."

"Shock," I cried, as I caught at his hands, which closed tightly and
clung to mine; and for the first time it seemed to come to me that this
poor half-wild boy was only different to myself in that he had been left
neglected to make his way in life almost as he pleased, and that in
spite of his wilful ways and half-savage animal habits it was more the
want of teaching than his fault.