en close the doors and windows, and set a guard over our
prisoners," Mr. Wright said, addressing Jackson, who stood in readiness
to attend to our wants.

"And one more request," my friend said, as we took our seats at the
table, "when we once get to sleep, be kind enough to let us rest until
we wake of our own accord. For the past three days our naps have not
been very long or sound."

"Every thing shall be as you desire, gentlemen. Now fall to, and don't
forget that there is a lady present."

Unless our host had alluded to the fact, it is probable that we should
have forgotten it, for Nancy was so well disguised in men's apparel that
she looked like a respectable farmer.

She seemed perfectly cool and unconcerned, and I was not surprised to
hear her say that she had passed many months so disguised while mining
with her husband at Bendigo, Tarres Creek, and Ballarat, during the
early history of the mines, when it was neither safe nor agreeable to
have a woman in camp. Tired as we were, she related a few incidents
connected with her life that were listened to with much interest, and we
found that if Nancy was rough, she possessed a true heart and a
Christian spirit, and was never backward in extending aid to the sick,
or giving good advice to the profane.

"Smoke your pipes, gentlemen," she said, "and don't be afraid that I
shall be sick, or that the smoke will injure my complexion. My old man
has used a pipe these twenty-five years, and I hope that he will live
twenty-five more, and as much longer as the Lord is willing. I don't
think that using a pipe will shorten his days or his nights. When I see
him, after a hard day's work, sucking a yard of clay, I thank Heaven
that it ain't a whiskey bottle. It's but little comfort the poor fellow
gets in this country, and if he's contented I'm happy."

"I wish that I could find a wife with your sentiments," Mr. Wright
remarked.

"So you can," Nancy replied; "but you've got to search for 'em. They
ain't found out here on the sand plains, or in the mines, but beneath
the shelter of a parent's protection in the large cities, where
education and virtue are taught."

"If you speak of Melbourne," Mr. Brown said, with an incredulous shrug
of his shoulders, "I shall be inclined to doubt you, for in the city no
such word as virtue is known."

"Spoken like a man of the world, and without a thought of how much that
is good and true is placed upon a level with the vile and unwort