ought I could find
a job that would suit him, and here he has been. He is quite strong
enough for all the work I want him to do, and I can trust him about
the place. Of course, he breaks out and gets drunk occasionally,
but one cannot expect to find a man perfect.

"Then there is a black boy--they call them all boys here--he looks
after the horses, and has two black boys--they are boys--under him.
I found him out on the plains. He had been shot by some
bush-ranging scoundrels, out of pure mischief, I should say. He was
insensible when I found him, but I saw that he was alive, and
managed to get him up on my horse and took him home. We were six
weeks getting him round, for the bullet had gone through his body.
It would have killed a white man in an hour, but these black
fellows are as hard as nails.

"My wife nursed him, for she was living up the country with me at
that time; and when he got well, he declared that he would never
leave us. I don't know that I was much gratified at the news, at
first; but I soon found out that Sam, as I called him, was a
valuable fellow about a place. He could turn his hand to
everything, but I found he was specially happy when he was engaged
about the horses; so at last I handed over that department to him,
and when we set up this place here, I brought him down with me and
made him head of the stables. It's fifteen years since I first
picked him up, and I don't think I have ever had cause to find
fault with him, since.

"So you see, though my establishment can't be called a genteel,
it's a thoroughly good-working one, and I doubt if there's a man in
the colony who is as well off as I am.

"When we go up country they all go with me except the sailor, who
remains in charge. He's a great man, I can tell you, when he's left
in what he calls command of the ship. He's got hold of two old
muskets and a brace of pistols, and these he always loads before we
start, so as to be ready to repel boarders. He looks out sharply,
too, for I have never lost a thing since he came; and when you
consider what a number of gentry there are, about here, with
experience in housebreaking, I think that's pretty well. He is
always drunk and incapable, for three or four days after our
return, as a reward to himself for having kept from drink all the
time we are away."

"Dinner is ready," Frances Hudson said, running into the room.
"Here you are, papa, talking away as usual, whenever you get the
chance. Now r