pigs should be killed for eighteen months, by
which time, as these animals increase rapidly, there would be quite a
large herd of them.

Although an immense deal of hard work was got through during the four
months which followed the completion of the house and the arrival of
Mrs. Hardy and her daughters, it must not be supposed that it was not
mingled with plenty of relaxation and amusement.

There were few days when one or other of the boys did not go out with
his gun for an hour either before sunrise or after sunset, seldom
failing to bring home a wild fowl or two of some kind or other. And
sometimes of an afternoon they would go out for a ride with their
sisters, and have a chase after an ostrich, or a run after the grey
foxes, which abounded, and were very destructive among the young lambs.
Once or twice during these rides the boys brought a puma to bay; but as
they always carried a ball in one of their barrels, with these and their
revolvers they soon despatched their unwelcome visitors.

They had contrived an apparatus with straps and a sort of little pocket,
in which the muzzle of the gun went, so that it hung from the saddle
down in front of their leg; the stock of the gun being secured by a
strap against the pommel of the saddle, at the other side of which was
their revolver-holster. This was an inconvenient way of carrying the gun
in some respects, as the strap had to be unfastened to get at it, and
the chance of a shot thereby lost; but they considered it preferable to
the mode they had at first adopted, of riding with their guns slung
behind them. This they gave up, because, with the utmost care, they
occasionally got a fall, when galloping, from the armadillo holes, and
the shock was greatly increased from the weight of the gun, besides the
risk to any one riding near, of the gun exploding. When riding quietly,
and upon the lookout for game, they carried the gun in readiness upon
their arms.

It was after one of these rides, when Hubert had brought down with a
bullet a swan which was making for his bed in the river, that Maud said
at tea:

'I wish we could shoot too; it would be a great amusement, and I should
enjoy my rides a good deal more if I knew that I could take a shot in
case a lion or a deer came out.'

'Well, girls,' Mr. Hardy said, 'I had always intended that you should
learn to shoot. We have had so much to do since you came here that I did
not think of it, and I had besides intended to w