hams and tongues.

About this time, they received a letter from their first friend in the
colony, Mr Prentiss, saying that the losses of his family had been so
great, and that his father had so taken it to heart, that he was
completely prostrate, and not likely to survive. He had, therefore,
himself come up to take the management of affairs, accompanied by his
children. He requested James to come and pay him a visit without delay.
Leaving Arthur and Craven in charge, he at once set off. He rode
alone, though he would probably have to camp out one or two nights.
There were stations on the road, but they were at inconvenient
distances; and unless compelled by bad weather, he did not purpose
stopping at them. He had a gun as a protection; but he had no fear of
bushrangers. They were now seldom heard of in the colony. From wild
beasts to be dreaded by a traveller, Australia is, happily, free. He
was not likely to meet any blacks inclined to be unfriendly.
Occasionally the natives murdered hut-keepers and stockmen, but in most
instances they had been provoked to do so by ill-treatment. With
saddle-bags and holsters well filled, a blanket, a tin kettle and pot,
strapped to the saddle before him, he set forth on his journey. There
is an elasticity in the atmosphere and a freedom from restraint which
makes travelling on horseback in Australia most delightful. James
Gilpin enjoyed it to the full. He also found it good to be alone
occasionally, to commune with his heart; and this journey gave him ample
opportunity of being so. The first day passed over pleasantly. He had
arranged to spend the evening with an acquaintance on the road. As his
own shadow and that of his steed were lengthened out on the grass, the
smoke of his friend's hut, curling up among the gum trees, appeared
before him. He called out as he rode up to the door, but no voice
answered; the distant sound, however, of tinkling sheep bells told him
that the flock of the station was being driven into a pen for the night,
where the new-born lambs could be better protected from the dingoes and
hawks, their chief enemies, than if left on the open. Unsaddling and
turning his horse into a paddock near at hand, he entered the hut. The
kettle was hissing on the fire, and the damper was baking under it.
There were signs that the hut was the residence of a gentleman (though
all was in the rough), and evidently that of a bachelor. Every spot on
the walls was