ight appeared. Soon after they passed the mouth of a clear stream,
and at the end of another mile the boat was turned suddenly off to their
right into a little river of the clearest water, which ran meandering
through a lightly-wooded slope rising towards the hills; and as Nic was
gazing at the fairy-like scene, whose atmospheric effects seemed, even
in his despondent state, far more beautiful than anything he had ever
seen at home, the boat swept round a curve whose banks were thickly set
with trees, and once more there was a human habitation in sight, in the
shape of a well-built, farm-like house upon a knoll, and the agitation
amongst the dogs warned the prisoners that here was their resting-place
for the night.

The next minute, as the dogs were barking, the boat was steered close
inshore, and the brutes bounded over into the shallow water, to scramble
up the bank, and set off as fast as they could go towards the house,
from which figures could be seen issuing; and at last, as Nic scanned
the signs of cultivation around, the growing crops roughly fenced, and
the out-buildings, the thought struck him that this might be their
destination.

While he was wondering whether this were so, the boat was run into a
little creek only big enough to let it pass for about a couple of
hundred yards before it grounded where a track came down to some posts;
and as the boat was secured to one of these the overseer sprang ashore
to meet a tall, sun-browned, grey-haired man, whose keen eyes were
directed towards the bows of the boat.

"Back again, then, Saunders!" he said sharply. "Well, what sort of a
lot do they seem?"

"Rough, but strong," replied the overseer; "all but one young fellow who
has been knocked about, but he seems as if he'll soon come round."

"Like so many horses or bullocks," said Nic to himself bitterly, "and I
am the one with broken knees."

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE.

NIC'S APPEAL.

"This, then, is my owner," thought Nic, scanning the settler narrowly as
he stood apart talking in a quick, decisive manner to the overseer, who
seemed to treat him with great respect, while the blacks stood apart
waiting for their orders.

These were not long in coming, for the man turned sharply upon them.

"Clear the boat," he said; and the blacks ran to the bows, a couple of
them holding the vessel steady while the prisoners stepped clanking out,
to stand in a row on the bank, with their new master scanning them
sharp