See what he
is!--Look at him!'
Barnaby had moved towards the door, and stood beckoning him to follow.
'If this was not faith, and strong belief!' cried Hugh, raising his
right arm aloft, and looking upward like a savage prophet whom the near
approach of Death had filled with inspiration, 'where are they! What
else should teach me--me, born as I was born, and reared as I have
been reared--to hope for any mercy in this hardened, cruel, unrelenting
place! Upon these human shambles, I, who never raised this hand in
prayer till now, call down the wrath of God! On that black tree, of
which I am the ripened fruit, I do invoke the curse of all its victims,
past, and present, and to come. On the head of that man, who, in his
conscience, owns me for his son, I leave the wish that he may never
sicken on his bed of down, but die a violent death as I do now, and have
the night-wind for his only mourner. To this I say, Amen, amen!'
His arm fell downward by his side; he turned; and moved towards them
with a steady step, the man he had been before.
'There is nothing more?' said the governor.
Hugh motioned Barnaby not to come near him (though without looking in
the direction where he stood) and answered, 'There is nothing more.
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