heir
course thus abruptly. Dr Cotton, the "Head" of the "Nottingham party,"
Dr Caldecott and some others, merely came, as it were like Moses, in
sight of the promised land, and then ended their earthly career. Yet
some of these left a valuable contribution, in their children, to the
future colony.

While Black and his friend Jerry were observing Orpin, as he conversed
with the brothers Skyd, the tall burly Englishman from whose shoulders
the former had been hurled into the sea, chanced to pass, and quietly
grasped the Scot by the arm.

"Here you are at last! Why, man, I've been lookin' for you ever since
that unlucky accident, to offer you a change of clothes and a feed in my
tent--or I should say _our_ tent, for I belong to a `party,' like every
one else here. Come along."

"Thank 'ee kindly," answered Sandy, "but what between haverin' wi' thae
Englishers an' drinkin' their whusky, my freen' Jerry an' me's dry
aneugh already."

The Englishman, however, would not listen to any excuse. He was one of
those hearty men, with superabundant animal spirits--to say nothing of
physique--who are not easily persuaded to let others follow their own
inclinations, and who are so good-natured that it is difficult to feel
offended with their kindly roughness. He introduced himself by the name
of George Dally, and insisted on Black accompanying him to his tent.
Sandy being a sociable, although a quiet man, offered little resistance,
and Jerry, being a worshipper of Sandy, followed with gay nonchalance.

CHAPTER FOUR.

FURTHER PARTICULARS OF "SETTLERS' TOWN," AND A START MADE FOR THE
PROMISED LAND.

Threading his way among the streets of "Settlers' Town," and pushing
vigorously through the crowds of excited beings who peopled it, George
Dally led his new acquaintances to a tent in the outskirts of the camp--
a suburban tent, as it were.

Entering it, and ushering in his companions, he introduced them as the
gentlemen who had been capsized into the sea on landing, at which
operation he had had the honour to assist.

There were four individuals in the tent. A huge German labourer named
Scholtz, and his wife. Mrs Scholtz was a substantial woman of forty.
She was also a nurse, and, in soul, body, and spirit, was totally
absorbed in a baby boy, whose wild career had begun four months before
in a furious gale in the Bay of Biscay. As that infant "lay, on that
day, in the Bay of Biscay O!" the elemental strife outside a