it up till morning. Whilst thus engaged they heard our voices
calling for help. They answered, at the same time getting ready some
more torches before, advancing to meet us, as there were
several pit-holes between us and them. Their call for us to remain
stationary came too late to save me from slipping into one of their
pits, thereby spraining my ankle and otherwise hurting myself, besides
being buried to my forehead in mud and water. The pit was not quite
five feet deep, but, unfortunately for myself in this instance, I
belong to the pocket edition of the feminine sex. They soon extricated
me from this perilous situation, and carried me to their tents, where,
by the assistance of my new friend, I was divested of the mud that
still clung to me, and placed into bed.

Before morning the storm, which we all thought had passed over, burst
forth with redoubled fury; the flashes of lightning were succeeded by
loud peals of thunder, and the rain came splashing down. Their tents
were situated on a slight rise, or they would have run great risk of
being washed away; every hole was filled with water, and the shea-oak,
of whose friendly shelter we had availed ourselves the evening before,
was struck by lightning, shivered into a thousand pieces. After a while
the storm abated, and the warm sun and a drying wind were quickly
removing all traces of it.

Frank and my brother, after an early breakfast, had set out for Eagle
Hawk Gully under the guidance of my fair friend's husband, who knew the
road thither very well; it was only three miles distant. He was to
bring back with him a change of clothing for me, as his wife had
persuaded my brother to leave me in her charge until I had quite
recovered from the effects of the accident, "which he more readily
promised," she observed, "as we are not quite strangers, having met
once before."

This awakened my curiosity, and I would not rest satisfied till fully
acquainted with the how, when, and where. Subsequently she related to
me some portion of the history of her life, which it will be no breach
of confidence to repeat here.

Short as it is, however, it is deserving of another chapter.

Chapter IX.

HARRIETTE WALTERS

Harriette Walters had been a wife but twelve months, when the sudden
failure of the house in which her husband was a junior partner involved
them in irretrievable ruin, and threw them almost penniless upon the
world. At this time the commercial advantages