I am guilty, but I'm telling you the
truth this time, as God is my judge. I don't ask release for myself,
but I want justice done to Seventy-two. No purer or better man ever
lived.'
"I sent the letter off; and, friends, I'm here to tell you that I
never felt so happy in all my life. The very prison walls that night
seemed to melt away in space. My poor cot was as soft as floating
clouds. I didn't feel the shackles on my ankle and arm, and the low
singing of Seventy-two in his cell was as sweet as far-off celestial
music. I remember he called out to me just before bed-time, 'Brother,
how goes it?' and for the first time I answered, with a sob in my
throat: 'I'm all right, Seventy-two--I'm all right!' And I heard him
say, 'Thank the Lord, blessed be His holy name!'
"Now comes the best part, friends--I'm glad to see you've been so
quiet and attentive. Lo and behold! One morning the warden sent for me
to come to his private sitting-room, and there sat a dignified, kind-
faced man. It was the Governor. He wanted to talk to me, he said,
about Seventy-two. I don't know how it was, but I give you my word
that somehow I didn't have a single thought beyond trying to get
Seventy-two pardoned. Once the Governor broke in and said, 'But how
about _your own_ case?' And I told him I was guilty and had no hope as
far as I was concerned.
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