6 THE LIFE OF E. J. PECK 



weaker, so that we find him writing : " For a time, 

 at least, I gave up private prayer and the study of 

 the Scriptures." But the wanderer was not allowed 

 to wander unwarned. " In the midst of life we are 

 in death," and this is especially true in the case of a 

 sailor. Dangers and accidents are always eloquent, 

 even when we cannot hear the voice of ordinary 

 passing events. One day he was ordered aloft with 

 one of his shipmates. The latter got into the rigging 

 a moment before him and a race upwards ensued. 

 Suddenly a ratline gave way under the foot of his 

 shipmate, who was dashed upon the deck a maimed, 

 crushed mass of humanity. This roused thought 

 in the one who was spared : " Why was it that I 

 was spared ? Why was I led to the opposite side 

 of the rigging to that which my poor shipmate had 

 taken ? Why ? Because God had a life-task for 

 me to perform." 



On another day, when a heavy sea was running, 

 he was sent to the large wheel, which had three tiers 

 of spokes. A mighty sea caught the rudder and 

 wrenched the wheel from the grasp of all the men 

 who held it, dashing upwards, against the deck 

 above, one poor fellow who was on the weather side. 

 We who were on the lee-side were saved from hurt. 

 The injured man died soon afterwards as a result of 

 the accident. 



Whatever effect these and similar accidents had 

 upon the young sailor at the time, they were brought 



