give us a better?"

"Because, my dear," replied Edwin, with a smile, "the incapable and
wicked Governor happens to possess almost despotic _power_, and can gain
the ear of men in high places at home, so that they are deceived by him,
while all who venture to approach them, except through this Governor,
are regarded with suspicion, being described as malcontents. And yet,"
continued Brook, growing warm at the thought of his wrongs, "we do not
complain of those at home, or of the natural disadvantages of the
country to which we have been sent. We settlers are actuated by one
undivided feeling of respect and gratitude to the British Government,
which future reverses will never efface; but it is peculiarly hard to
have been sent to this remote and inaccessible corner of the globe, and
to be left to the control of one individual, who misrepresents us and
debars us the right to express our collective sentiments. Why, we might
as well be living under the dominion of the Turk. But a word in your
ear, Frank Dobson; meetings _have_ been held, private ones, while you
were away in the bush, and our case _has_ been properly represented at
last, and a Royal Commission of Inquiry is to be sent out to put things
right. So there's hope for us yet! The clouds which have been so long
lowering, are, I think, beginning to clear away."

While the sanguine settler was thus referring to the clouds of adversity
which had for more than two years hovered over the young settlement, the
natural clouds were accumulating overhead in an unusually threatening
manner. Long periods of drought are frequently followed in South Africa
by terrible thunderstorms. One of them seemed to be brewing just then.

"I fear Hans and Considine will get wet jackets before they arrive,"
said Frank Dobson, rising and going to the window.

"Hans and Considine!" exclaimed Gertie, with a flush; "are they here?"

"Ay, they came with me as far as Grahamstown on business of some sort.--
By the way, what a big place that is becoming, quite a town! When we
saw it first, you remember, it was a mere hamlet, the headquarters of
the troops."

"It will be a city some day," prophesied Brook as he put on an old
overcoat that had hitherto survived the ravages of time; "you see all
our comrades who have discovered that farming is not their vocation are
hiving off into it, and many of them, being first-rate mechanics, they
have taken to their trades, while those with mercant