. He was the eldest, and just of an age to
be helpful. Still, there were four more left, and, as it happened, Mrs
Ridgeley was not a woman who ever displayed over much feeling. She was
a good woman and a sensible one, but not ostentatiously affectionate.
So the parting between them, though hard, was not quite so hard as some
others. One fact is certain. It was the best thing in the world for
Gerard himself.

Harry Maitland, on the other hand, was the son of a well-to-do London
clergyman. From a pecuniary point of view, therefore, his chances and
prospects were immeasurably better than those of his companion. He
would inherit a little money by-and-by, of which prospective advantage,
however, he was wisely kept in ignorance. He, too, had been sent to the
colonies at his own wish, and we think we have shown enough of his
character and disposition to suggest grave doubts in our readers' minds
as to whether he would do any good when he got there. But whether he
does or not will appear duly in the course of our narrative.

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Note 1. The carriage of goods by ox-waggon, which before the day of
railways was the sole method, is thus termed.

CHAPTER FOUR.

JOHN DAWES, TRANSPORT-RIDER.

No time was to be lost in preparing for their start, and also in
informing their landlord of their change of plans. This Gerard did with
some inward trepidation, knowing that they were expected to make a
longer stay. But he need have felt none. That philosophic individual
manifested neither surprise nor disappointment. Whether they left or
whether they stayed was a matter of supreme indifference to him. He
wished them good-bye and good luck in the same happy-go-lucky way in
which he had first greeted them, and filled up a fresh pipe.

Though only about a dozen miles from Durban, it took them upwards of an
hour to reach Pinetown. But they did not mind this. The line ran
through lovely bush country, winding round the hills often at a
remarkably steep gradient; now intersecting sugar plantations, with
deep-verandahed bungalow-like houses, and coolies in bright clothing and
large turbans at work among the tall canes; now plunging through a mass
of tangled forest. Every now and then, too, a glimpse was afforded of
the blue, land-locked bay, and the vessels rolling at their anchorage
beyond the lines of surf in the roadstead outside.

"There lies the ol