It may clear up everything.
Hoping it will, he strides towards and takes hold of it.

Lifting it carefully from the leaf, he spreads it out.

He sees some writing in pencil, which he prepares to read.
At first sight he supposed it might be a dying record.

Now he believes it may be something else.
His hands tremble, and his huge frame is convulsed as he holds the paper to his eyes.
With a thrill of joy he recognises the handwriting of Hamersley, which he knows.

He is not much of a scholar; still, he can read, and at a glance makes out the first four words, full of pleasant meaning: "_Saved by an Angel_!" He reads no farther, till after giving utterance to a "hurrah!" that might have been heard many miles over the Staked Plain.