lightning is attracted by metal, and will now strike the
point instead of the house, run down the wire, and only tear up the
ground below."

"It's coming on again, sir, as thick as ever," observed the old man; "we
shall do no work to-day, I'm afraid. I'll just go and see where the
stock are."

Juno was now up again, and said that she was quite well, with the
exception of a headache. As Ready had predicted, the rain now came on
again with great violence, and it was impossible to do any work out of
doors. At the request of William he continued his narrative.

NARRATIVE OF OLD READY.

"Well, William, as soon as they had let go their anchor in Table Bay, we
were all ordered on shore, and sent up to a prison close to the
Government Gardens. We were not very carefully watched, as it appeared
impossible for us to get away, and I must say we were well treated in
every respect; but we were told that we should be sent to Holland in the
first man-of-war which came into the bay, and we did not much like the
idea.

"There were, as I told you, some other boys as well as myself, who
belonged to the Indiaman, and we kept very much together, not only
because we were more of an age, but because we had been shipmates so
long. Two of these boys, one of whom I have mentioned as Jack Romer,
and the other Will Hastings, were my particular friends; and one day, as
we were sitting under the wall warming ourselves, for it was winter
time, Romer said, `How very easy it would be for us to get away, if we
only knew where to go to!'

"`Yes,' replied Hastings; `but where are we to go to, if it is not to
the Hottentots and wild savages; and when we get there, what can we
do?--we can't get any further.' `Well,' said I, `I would rather be
living free among savages, than be shut up in a prison.' That was our
first talk on the subject, but we had many others afterwards; and as the
one or two Dutch soldiers who stood sentry spoke English, and we could
talk a little Dutch, we obtained a good deal of information from them;
for they had very often been sent to the frontiers of the colony. We
continued to ask questions, and to talk among ourselves for about two
months, and at last we resolved that we would make our escape. We
should have done much better if we had remained where we were; but there
is no putting old heads upon young shoulders. We saved up our
provisions, bought some long Dutch knives, tied our few clothes up in
bundles, and on