ddy got Pierce on his back, and soon placed him by her
side. I followed, when the boat shoved off, and we made the best of our
way to the river. I was thankful to hear from Mudge, who also had come,
that my mother was much better.

Our father received us at the landing-place, and not a word of reproach
did he utter to Edith and Pierce--feeling that they had been
sufficiently punished for their thoughtlessness; while our poor mother
welcomed them back with tears of joy.

"O mamma, mamma! how very sorry I am that we should have alarmed you
so," exclaimed Edith, as she threw her arms round our mother's neck.
"We fancied that we were doing something very heroic in exploring the
country, and expected to find another river or beautiful harbour, little
dreaming of the danger we were running."

"We may thank God, my child, that you are preserved," answered our
mother. "From what I hear, had a storm come on you would inevitably
have been lost."

She did not think at the moment how narrow an escape they had had.
Scarcely had we landed when the general appearance of the sky to
windward changed, clouds dark as ink rose above the horizon; and before
an hour had passed, one of those fearful gales known as black hurricanes
or black squalls, which occasionally blow on the Australian coast, began
to rage.

It was far more furious than the one which burst on us soon after we
landed. The sea came rushing into the river and drove back the ebb with
a power which rapidly made the water rise; and as we watched it getting
higher and higher, we began to fear that the whole of our peninsula
would be flooded. Huge boughs were torn off the trees, which bent
before the gale, and every instant we expected some of them to fall.

Night coming quickly on, increased the horrors of the scene. Several
times my father went down to the edge of the water to ascertain how high
it had risen, leaving Burton to watch, and report to him should it rise
above a certain point. In a short time the flood would set in; if so,
we might expect the water to rise very rapidly. Of course, no one
thought of going to bed; my mother and Edith sat dressed for a journey,
and every one was ordered to prepare to start at a moment's notice. We
each had our guns and as much ammunition as we could carry, for on that
our existence might depend should we be deprived of our stores. We had
also a small quantity of provisions, a second pair of shoes apiece, and
a few arti