he
lingered on for some months, and then sank quietly and painlessly.

The events of the snow-storm left a far deeper trace upon Mrs Humphreys
than upon her son. The terrible anxiety of those five days had told
greatly upon her, and after they were over she seemed to lose strength
rapidly. She had never been very strong, and a hacking cough now
constantly shook her. The doctor who attended her looked serious, and
one day said to Mr Humphreys--

"I don't like the state of your wife; she has always been weak in her
lungs, and I fear that the anxiety she went through has somehow
accentuated her former tendency to consumption. The air of this place--
you see she was born in the south--is too keen for her. If I were you I
would take her up to London and consult some first-rate man in lung
diseases, and get his opinion."

The next day Mr Humphreys started for London. The celebrated physician
examined his wife, and afterwards took him aside.

"I cannot conceal from you," he said, "that your wife's lungs are very
seriously affected, although consumption has not yet thoroughly set in.
If she remains in this country she may not live many months; your only
hope is to take her abroad--could you do that?"

"Yes, sir," Mr Humphreys said. "I can take her anywhere. Where would
you advise?"

"She would benefit from a residence either in Egypt or Madeira," the
doctor said; "but for a permanency I should say the Cape. I have known
many complete cures made there. You tell me that you are engaged in
agricultural pursuits; if it is possible for you to settle there, I can
give you every hope of saving her life, as the disease is not yet
developed. If you go, don't stay in the lowlands, but get up into the
high plateaus, either behind the Cape itself, or behind Natal. The
climate there is delicious, and land cheap."

Mr Humphreys thanked him and left, returning the next day to Castleton.
The astonishment of the boys, and indeed of Mrs Humphreys, was
unbounded, when the farmer announced in the evening at supper that he
intended to sell his land and emigrate at once to the Cape.

The boys were full of excitement at the new and strange idea, and asked
numerous questions, none of which the farmer could answer; but he
brought out a pile of books, which he had purchased in town, concerning
the colonies and their resources, and for once Dick's aversion to books
vanished, and he was soon as much absorbed as his brother in the peru