me gigantic hand. Every now
and then, at a bend in the track, the high lands, sloping away on either
side, disclosed the distant town lying like a child's puzzle on the
plain, with the shadowy flats and dim ocean in the far background. By
overshadowing rocks and down sudden steeps the road kept its irregular
course; and now it would cleave its way along a mile of table-land,
elevated above a perfect ocean of trees on either side, which seemed as
though human hand or foot had never trespassed on their sombre solitude.
Yet, every here and there the marks of destruction would suggest
thoughts of man's work and presence. Whole tracts of forest would be
filled with half-charred trunks, the centres black and hollowed out, the
upper parts green and flourishing as ever.

Nothing, for a time, broke the silence of Frank's solitary ride, as he
made his way along the serpentine road rising still higher and higher,
and every now and then emerging upon broader and broader views of the
plains and ocean beyond them, while the interlocking hills beneath his
feet had dwindled down into a row of hillocks like funeral mounts in
some Titanic graveyard. And now, as he paused in admiration to gaze on
the lovely view spread out before him, he felt the burning heat relieved
for a moment by a flying cloud; he looked upward--it was a flight of the
yellow-crested cockatoo, which passed rapidly on with deafening
screeches. A while after, and a flock of the all-coloured parakeet sped
past him like the winged fragments of a rainbow. Look where he would,
all was beautiful: the sky above, a pure Italian blue--the distant ocean
sparkling--the lands of the plain smiling in peaceful sunshine--the
hills on all sides quaint and fantastic--the highlands around him thick
with their forests--the sward, wherever trees were thickly scattered,
enamelled with flowers of the brightest scarlet. Oh, how sad that sin
should mar the beauties with which the hand of God has so lavishly
clothed even this fallen world.

Frank's heart was filled with a delight that ascended into adoration of
the Great Creator; then tenderer thoughts stole over him--thoughts of
home, thoughts of the hearts which loved him still, spite of the past.
Oh, how his spirit yearned for a sight of the loved and dear familiar
faces he had left behind in the old but now far-off land! Tears filled
his eyes, and he murmured something like a prayer. It was but for a
little while, however, that t