ney and spend their money,
till they are driven to take the first job that offers. Well, they
may do for shepherds, in places where no drink is to be had for
love or money, but you would scarcely care about having them as
butlers; so you see, we are driven to the three classes I spoke of.
I have been exceptionally lucky. The man who carried the things
upstairs just now, and who is my chief man here, is an ex-convict."

Reuben looked surprised.

"He was assigned to me when he first got his ticket of leave. I
found him a good hand, and he stood by me pluckily, when my station
was attacked by the blacks. So next time I came down to the town, I
asked what he had been sent out here for. I found it was for having
been concerned in a poaching fray, in which some of the game
keepers got badly hurt. Well, that wasn't so much against him, you
know, so I got talking to him one day, and found out that he came
from my part of England. I found he had a wife, so I sent home
money to some friends, and asked them to send her out; which they
did and, finding she had, before she married him, been cook in a
gentleman's family, I engaged her here, and sent up the country for
Watson to come down. I had told him nothing about it; for I
thought, perhaps, his wife might refuse to come out, or might have
married again, or anything else.

"Well, the meeting was a happy one, as you may suppose; and I then
settled him down here--at least, it wasn't here, but a smaller
place I had then--and he has been with me ever since. His time was
out some years ago, but that has made no difference. Nothing would
induce him to leave me; and I would not part with him for any
amount, for a more faithful and trusty fellow never lived, and when
I go away I know everything will go along like clockwork. As for
his wife, she's a treasure, and she knows how to cook a dinner, as
you will acknowledge presently.

"They form the mainstay of my establishment. Besides that, there's
an old chap who looks after the garden, goes down to the town, and
does odd jobs. He was a sailor. He was landed here when his vessel
came into port, five years ago. He had fallen off the yard on to
the deck, and had broken half his ribs. He was taken to the
government hospital. They did not think, at first, that he would
ever get over it; but though he pulled through, it was clear he
would never be fit for any hard work. So the surgeon of the
hospital spoke of the case to me, and I said I th