ch the boys took a part. Even
Hector acknowledged that there was some fun in the sport, though he
should like to have turned out in a red coat and riding-cap.

"With the thermometer at ninety in the shade?" remarked Harry. "I don't
think you would ride out a second time in such a fashion."

CHAPTER NINE.

A BLACK HELP FOR BIDDY OBTAINED--BENDIGO, HER HUSBAND--PRODUCTS OF THE
ESTATE--SHOOTING EXCURSIONS--HECTOR AND THE LEECHES--THE BOYS AWAKENED
BY A LAUGHING JACKASS--A FLOOD IN THE RIVER.

Things went on quietly enough at the farm, until one day Biddy struck--
not for wages, but for help. She could not bear to see the young ladies
do the work they were compelled to do, and yet it was more than she
could do herself.

The captain inquired whether she would object to a black help.

"Sure not, yer honour, if she kapes a dacent tongue in her mouth,"
answered Biddy. So the captain rode out to obtain the assistance Biddy
asked for. A short distance away, a small tribe of friendly blacks were
encamped; among them was one called Bendigo. He had frequently visited
the station, and was ready to make himself generally useful by chopping
wood or occasionally assisting the shepherds. He had a wife named
Betty, who, if she was not pretty to European notions, was thought to be
so by Bendigo, and she was a young, good-natured, merry little woman.

The captain invited the couple to come and take up their abode on the
farm. They were to have a hut to themselves. Betty was to help Biddy,
and Bendigo was to do any work required of him. The offer was accepted,
and Betty was forthwith installed as Biddy's help. Her costume when she
made her appearance was not altogether suited to her new style of life,
as it consisted of a man's old shirt and a piece of grass matting as a
petticoat.

The young ladies immediately manufactured for her a robe of blue serge
trimmed with red braiding, while Biddy initiated her into the use of
soap and water, to which she had hitherto been a stranger. She
carefully brushed her hair and combed it out with a horse-comb, none of
those in ordinary use being strong enough for the purpose.

Betty was immensely proud of her new costume, and hurried away to
exhibit herself to her husband and the other black fellows on the
station. Had not Bendigo stopped her she would have gone off to the
camp; but he, not without reason, feared that she might have been
deprived of her new dress by some of her be