ff by daybreak, and in three hours reached our settlement. All
had gone well, and I need scarcely say that we were heartily welcomed.
My purchase of cattle was greatly admired, and very valuable stock they
proved. I had still a good amount of cash left as capital, so that I
could go on for two or more years without having to sell any stock, and
I now hoped that the land would produce enough corn to feed all those
employed on the farm, with some over. I forgot to say that in the
afternoon Dick Nailor, with Arthur and two other men, set out to bury
the bodies of the white men. My suspicion was confirmed. They were
Arthur's wretched companions. Their fate has been that of hundreds who
have attempted to follow the same course. It made a deep impression on
Arthur Wells, who ultimately became, through God's grace, a thoroughly
changed man.

I was not disappointed in any of my expectations. God prospered me on
every side. I was able to purchase more sheep in the course of another
year, so that my flocks rapidly increased. Small flocks, as may be
supposed, do not pay. In the course of time we got up a better and
larger house. We wanted one indeed, for our family increased in a way
we had not expected. Charley White was engaged, I should have said, to
my eldest girl, Mary; and just before they were to be married he started
off in the dray to Sydney. Whether or not Mary knew why he had gone we
could not tell. He was a very short time absent, and when the dray
appeared, there, seated under an awning in front, was a nice-looking old
lady, and Mary exclaimed, "That's Aunt Priscilla," but instead of her
cats she was accompanied by two young ladies.

It appeared that Charley had been sending home such glowing accounts of
the colony, that Miss Beamish was seized with a strong desire to come
out and join her nephew; and, like a sagacious woman, had brought out
with her the commodity just then and ever since most required, in the
shape of two honest, well-educated, nice-looking girls. Peter and Mark
took a great fancy to them, and before long they became their wives.

Miss Beamish got a grant of land close to mine, on which Charley put up
a house for her, he and his wife living with her and managing the farm,
which she, indeed, made over to him and his heirs, of whom there were,
in the course of a few years, no small number.

I was soon able to start Peter in an estate of his own; and Mark a few
years afterwards.

Ar