s, were placed far too high above
it to be reached by the widest inundation it could cause.

Arthur did not forget his promise to Craven, and, as soon as he was
able, he rode toward his hut with several books in his pockets. The
hut-keeper was very grateful, and expressed himself in a way which
showed that he was really a gentleman and a man of feeling. The
brothers, as they rode away, agreed that it would be but an act of
common kindness to ask him to visit them, and that they might send
another man to take his place.

Craven considered a moment. "No; I had better not," he answered; "the
men about here look upon me as one of themselves, and if I were seen
with you, I should no longer be trusted by them. They are mischievously
inclined; and if I can turn them from their purposes, or give you
warning of their intentions, and help, if needs be, it will afford me
the satisfaction of believing that I have been of some little use in the
world."

They could not but agree with him, and expressed a hope that an
employment more suited to a person of his education might be found for
him.

Craven gave a sickly smile. "You are young, and think change is easy,"
he said. "The sapling is quickly bent, but when an old tree has long
grown in the same direction, it cannot be straightened again. Supply me
with books and tobacco, and, a few years hence, perhaps, a pair of
spectacles, and I shall have no desire to quit these wilds."

"Perhaps you will change your mind," said James, putting out his hand,
which the broken-down gentleman shook warmly.

Many years had passed since his palm had pressed that of an equal in
intellect and education. It seemed to raise him out of the state of
hopeless apathy into which he had fallen.

The hut at headquarters had greatly improved in appearance since it had
become the residence of the Gilpins. There were three glazed windows,
and it was partitioned off into a bedroom, a sitting-room--where books
and papers could be arranged on shelves and kept clean--and a kitchen,
which served as dining-room and hall. A good-sized storeroom had been
built at the back, with a door opening into the kitchen. They and Sam
Green were the only inmates of the building.

It was late at night, the Bible had been read, and family prayers had
been offered up--when two or three were gathered together that custom
was never departed from in that rude hut in the wilds of Australia--
thanksgivings for past, peti