ched pinched face with two bony hands, and burst into tears. I
certainly never expected to see a swagger cry, and F---- declared the
sight was quite as new to him as to me. However, the poor man's tears
and helplessness gave fresh energy to my maids' treacherous nerves, and
they even suggested dry clothes. Our good-natured cadet, who at this
moment appeared on the scene, was only too happy to find some outlet for
_his_ superfluous benevolence, and hastened off, to return in a moment
or two with an old flannel shirt, dry and whole, in spite of its
faded stripes, a pair of moleskin trousers, and a huge pair of canvas
cricketing shoes. It was no time for ceremony, so we women retreated for
a few minutes into the store-room, whilst F---- and Mr. A---- made the
swagger's toilette, getting so interested in their task as even to part
his dripping hair out of his eyes. He had no swag, poor fellow, having
lost his roll of red blankets in one of the treacherous bog-holes across
the range.

That man was exactly like a lost, starving dog. He ate an enormous
breakfast, curled himself upon some empty flour-sacks in a dry corner
of the kitchen, and slept till dinner time; then another sleep until the
supper hour, and so on, the round of he clock. All this time he never
spoke, though we were dying to hear how he had come into such a plight.
The "sou'-wester" still raged furiously out of doors without a moment's
cessation, and we were obliged to have recourse to the tins of meat kept
in the store-room for such an emergency. The shepherd told us afterwards
he had ventured out to look for some wethers, his own supply being
exhausted, but the whole mob had hidden themselves so cleverly that
neither man nor dog could discover their place of shelter. On the Monday
night, exactly a week after the outbreak of bad weather; the skies
showed signs of having exhausted themselves, and nature began to wear
a sulky air, as if her temper were but slowly recovering herself. The
learned in such matters, however, took a cheerful view of affairs, and
declared the worst to be over,--"for this bout,"--as they cautiously
added.

Whether it was the three days of rest, warmth, and good food which
unlocked the swagger's heart, or not, I do not pretend to decide; but
that evening, over a pipe in the kitchen, he confided to Mr. A----that
he had been working his way down to the sea-coast from a station
where he had been employed, very far back in the hill ranges.