[Illustration]

"Oh, I must not tell you, mamma would call me a chatterbox; you will
know by-and-by."

In the meanwhile Mary, on her side, was congratulating Toby, who kept
scampering between herself and Fritz, at one moment receiving the
caresses of the one and at the next of the other, with every
demonstration of joy. This had become an established mode of
communication between the young people when Fritz arrived from a
lengthened ramble; the intelligent, brute, in point of fact, had
assumed the office of dragoman.

"Ah, ah, Becker, glad to see you again," said Willis. "Your sons are
fountains of knowledge, whilst I am--"

"A very worthy fellow, Willis, and I know it," replied Becker, shaking
him heartily by the hand.

CHAPTER XII.

MAN PROPOSES, BUT GOD DISPOSES--THE CHOICE OF A
PROFESSION--CONQUEROR--ORATOR--ASTRONOMER--COMPOSER--PAINTER--POET--VILLAGE
CURATE--THE KAFIRS--OCCUPATIONS OF WOMEN--THE ALPHA AND OMEGA OF THE
SEA.

To the storm succeeded one of those diluvian showers that have already
been described. Rain being merely a result of evaporation, it was
evident that sea and land in those climates must perspire at an
enormous rate to effect such cataclysms. In consequence of this
deluge, the proposed excursion was indefinitely postponed. The
provisions, the marvellous kits, the waggon, were all ready; but
Nature, as often happens under such circumstances, had assumed a
menacing attitude, and for the present forbade the execution of the
project.

A sort of vague sadness, that generally accompanies a gloomy
atmosphere, weighed upon the spirits of the colonists. Recollections
of the _Nelson_ and her sudden disappearance thrust themselves more
vividly than ever upon their memory; and Willis was observed to throw
his sou'-wester unconsciously on the ground--a proof that remembrances
of the past occupied his thoughts.

One of the ladies was occupied in the needful domestic operations of
the household, whilst the other sat with a stocking on her left arm,
busily occupied in repairing the ravages of tear and wear upon that
useful though humble garment. The two young ladies spun, as used to do
the great ladies of the court of King Alfred, and as Hercules himself
is said to have done when he changed his club and lion's skin for a
spindle and distaff with the Queen of Lybia; Jack was apparently
sketching, Fritz had a collection of hunting apparatus before him, and
the other two young men, each with