r," he cried for. Not a drop could he
find. He walked on, and on, and on. No water; no signs of water. He
sat down under a tree to rest, but he could not rest till he had found
water. Again he sat down. He could walk no farther. A mist came over
his eyes. He could not think--he could not pray. His throat was dry,
his lips parched. He fell back with his arms stretched out, never again
to rise.
Some months afterwards some travellers, in search of a new sheep run,
came in the bush on the bones of a man. A bullet near the side made
them guess that he had died of a wound he had just before received. In
a pocket-book in his jacket was found the name of Benjamin Page; and a
brace of pistols, a gun and powder-flask, were recognised as having been
stolen from a hut by two bush-rangers, one of whom had been taken and
hung.
Not till years afterwards did the Miller of Hillbrook learn how his
unhappy son died--Mary never knew.
"Oh that I had brought him up to fear God! how different might have been
his lot," said the miller. "It was I--I, that let my son be a
castaway."
STORY ONE, CHAPTER 7.
The miller was a changed man in some points after his son had been
transported. He seemed to be more morose than ever, but it was observed
that he seldom said or did anything to hurt his neighbours, as once was
the case. Sam Green, as he began to recover from his broken leg, was
much the same man as before, sour and grumpy. He was able to move to
his own cottage, but matters did not improve there. Only when Tiny Paul
was with him was he seen to smile. He was never tired of watching the
little chap, who would get hold of one of his sticks and call it his
horse, and ride round and round the room on it. "Grandfather must give
Tiny Paul a real horse, and then he will ride like a man," said the
child.
"Tiny Paul shall have a ride the first day grandfather can find a pony,"
said Sam.
Not long after this Sam hobbled out with the aid of his sticks to a
field near his cottage. At the other end of it was a large and deep
pond. Sam sat himself down on a bank, and Tiny Paul played about near
him. There were several horses and ponies feeding in the field.
"Grandfather, let Tiny Paul have his ride," said the child, pointing to
an old, blind pony, grazing near. Just then a farmer's boy came by,
with a halter in his hand, on his way to catch a horse for his master.
"Tom Smith, catch a pony for Tiny Paul to have a ride
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