d sent off to the friend he spoke of,
who soon afterwards arrived on horseback. He was a handsome,
middle-aged man, of a peculiarly grave and melancholy countenance, but
with a keen eye, and who appeared, by his bearing and manners, to have
been an officer. He at once, on hearing our account, agreed to
accompany us, and to organise an expedition to carry such provisions as
he thought would be necessary, with horses for the conveyance of my
mother and sister, as well as my father, and any of the rest of the
party who might be unable to walk.

I felt in high spirits, and perfectly ready to set off on the following
morning. Towards evening, however, I suddenly became very ill, when
Mrs Hudson insisted on my going to bed; and next morning I was utterly
unable to rise. But, of course, the expedition could not be delayed on
my account.

I was unconscious, so I was afterwards told, for some time; and when I
regained my senses I found that the party had long since started. My
fear was that while I had been in delirium I might have talked of Harry
Hudson, and I was thankful to find that such had not been the case.
Mrs Hudson watched over me with as much care as my own mother could
have done, and I often saw tears dropping from her eyes--when I knew
that she was thinking of her own boy, whom she supposed to have been
lost.

As I got better, Lily, for such was the name of the young lady--she was,
as I could not help telling her, a sweet white English Lily; not like
one of the Australian lilies, with grand blossoms of rich crimson, six
inches in diameter, growing on stalks twenty feet high--Lily was my
constant companion. Every day that I was in her company I admired her
more and more--but I must not talk about that just now. She was, I
suspected, the daughter of the leader of the expedition, who, for some
reason--not a dishonourable one--was compelled to live a secluded life
in Australia. Two more months passed away, when one afternoon a man on
horseback appeared, bringing the joyful intelligence that our party were
close at hand, and all well. I saw that Mrs Hudson was greatly
agitated, and I now knew that the captain had been gradually preparing
her for the appearance of their son.

It is beyond my power to describe the meeting; I know a great many of us
cried with joy, and I am not ashamed to say that I did so. My dear
mother and Edith had borne the journey well, though they had been hard
pressed for some weeks,