shall have the satisfaction of keeping you here with
us.'

And so it was settled; and a fortnight afterwards, Terence and Sarah had
two days' holiday, and went down to Buenos Ayres, where there was an
English church, and came back again man and wife. After that each went
back to work as usual, and the only change was, that Terence now took
his meals and lived in the house instead of down in the men's huts. By
this time they had begun to find out which of the crops peculiar to warm
countries would pay, and which would not, or rather--for they all paid
more or less--which was the most suitable.

The cotton crop had proved a success; the field had in time been covered
with cotton plants, which had burst first into a bright yellow blossom,
and had then been covered with many balls of white fluff. The picking
the cotton had been looked upon at first as great fun, although it had
proved hard work before it was finished. Its weight had rather exceeded
Mr. Hardy's anticipation. The process of cleaning the cotton from the
pods and seeds had proved a long and troublesome operation, and had
taken an immense time. Judging by the progress that they at first made
with it, they really began to despair of ever finishing it, but with
practice they became more adroit. Still it was found to be too great a
labour during the heat of the day, although carried on within doors. It
had been a dirty work too; the light particles of fluff had got
everywhere, and at the end of a couple of hours' work the party had
looked like a family of bakers. Indeed, before more than a quarter of
the quantity raised was cleaned, they were heartily sick of the job, and
the remainder was sold in the pod to an Englishman who had brought out
machinery, and was attempting to raise cotton near Buenos Ayres.
Although the profits had been considerable, it was unanimously
determined that the experiment should not be repeated, at any rate for
the present.

Mr. Hardy had not at first carried out his idea of planting a couple of
acres with tobacco and sugar-cane, the ground having been required for
other purposes. He had not, however, abandoned the idea; and about two
months before the marriage of Terence and Sarah, he had planted some
tobacco, which was, upon their return from Buenos Ayres, ready to be
picked.

The culture of tobacco requires considerable care. The ground is first
prepared with great care, and is well and thoroughly manured; but this
was not required