clasped her in a long embrace.

"Come straight in here, my dear," Mrs. Barker said. "I have got a
basin of cold water, and a cup of strong tea, and the two together
will do marvels. We will attend to your wounded hero."

Reuben remained perfectly quiet and inert, as he was lifted out and
carried into the house, where a bed had been made up for him in a
room on the ground floor.

"Just lay him down. Throw a blanket over him, and let him lie
perfectly quiet."

"Do you think he is really asleep?" Mrs. Barker asked, as she
looked at the quiet face.

"I do, really," her husband replied. "Put your ear close to his
mouth. He is breathing as quietly as a child.

"And," he added, placing his fingers on Reuben's wrist, "his pulse
is a little fast, but regular and quiet. Twenty-four hours of sleep
will set him up again, unless I am greatly mistaken. I don't expect
that his wound will turn out anything very serious.

"Let me think. Was it not this afternoon that Ruskin said he would
be back again?"

"Yes, either yesterday or today."

"That is lucky. He will be surprised at finding two new patients on
his hands, now.

"I will go and have a look at that poor wretch in the shed. Give me
a cupful of beef tea. I will pour a spoonful or two between his
lips. You had better go and look after Kate. You will not be needed
here, at present.

"If your master wakes, Jim, let us know directly," he said to the
black, who had seated himself on the ground by the side of Reuben's
bed.

"I can't call the poor fellow away from his master," he added to
his wife, as he closed the door behind them; "but I am really
anxious to know what has taken place, out in the bush; and whether
many of our fellows have been killed. If, as Kate said, she heard
the captain tell the bush ranger that all his band had been killed,
except one who is a prisoner, it has indeed been a most successful
expedition; and we colonists can hardly be sufficiently grateful,
to Whitney, for having rid us of these pests. What with that, and
the thrashing the blacks have had, we shall be able to sleep
quietly for months; which is more than we have done for a long
time."

Kate came out of the room, with Mrs. Donald, a minute later. The
basin of cold water and the tea had had the effect Mrs. Barker
predicted. A little colour had returned into her cheeks, and she
looked altogether more like herself.

"How is he?" Mrs. Donald asked.

"In my opinion, he's doing capital