eir home until they had one of their own to go into; and now
this kind letter, coming off so instantly after their arrival, cheered
them all much, and made them feel less strange and to some extent at
home in the new country at once.

CHAPTER III.

A NEW LIFE.

Tide was fortunately high, and the boat containing the Hardys and the
lighter portion of their luggage was able to get up to the landing place
without the carts being called into use. As they approached the land
they were hailed in a hearty voice, and greetings were exchanged between
Mr. Hardy and his friend Mr. Thompson--a sunburnt-looking man with a
great beard--in a Panama hat and in a suit of spotless white.

'Why, Mrs. Hardy,' he said as they landed, 'you hardly look a day older
than you did when I last saw you--let me see--fourteen years ago, just
as this big fellow was beginning to walk. And now, if you please, we
will be off as soon as we can, for my estancia is fifteen miles away. I
have made the best arrangements I could for getting out; but roads are
not a strong point in this country, and we seldom trust ourselves in
wheeled vehicles far out of the town. You told me in your letters,
Hardy, that the young people could all ride. I have horses in any
number, and have got in two very quiet ones, with side-saddles, which I
borrowed from some neighbours for your girls; but if they prefer it,
they can ride in the trap with Mrs. Hardy.'

'Oh no, please,' Maud said; 'I had much rather ride.'

Ethel said nothing, and her mamma saw that she would rather go with her.
Accordingly, Mrs. Hardy, Ethel, Sarah, and some of the lighter bags were
packed into a light carriage, Mr. Thompson himself taking the reins, as
he said he could not trust them to any one but himself. Mr. Hardy, the
boys, and Maud mounted the horses prepared for them, and two of Mr.
Thompson's men stowed the heavier trunks into a bullock-cart, which was
to start at once, but which would not reach the estancia until late at
night.

As the party rode through the town, they were struck with the narrowness
and straightness of the streets, and at the generally European look of
everything; and Mr. Thompson told them that nearly half the population
of Buenos Ayres are European. The number of people upon horseback also
surprised our young travellers; but horses cost only thirty shillings or
two pounds, and grass is so abundant that the expense of their food is
next to nothing; consequently ev