way, lad. It's almost as if them words were written for
such rovin' chaps as us. Don't stop. I like it. Give us another.'

Jack was only too glad to go on. He sang his mother's favourite, 'My
God, my Father, while I stray,' and followed it by many more, until his
voice got tired. Sometimes he forgot a verse here and there, but he
remembered enough to show Jeff that he must have sung the hymns day
after day, to know them so well by heart.

Lem had sat silently on the far side of the camp fire, and as Jack
ceased singing, he said sneeringly: 'Say, Jeff, you ain't been much o'
a hymn-fancier afore to-night, I reckon.'

'No, I ain't,' returned the miner quietly; 'more's the pity, perhaps.
If I'd had such a mother to teach _me_, I dare say I'd have lived a
deal straighter life than I have done. I don't remember my mother.
She died when I was a babby, but if she'd been like Jack's, I reckon
I'd have gone as far to see her as he's agoin'.'

Lem grunted. In spite of himself he had liked listening to the boy's
singing, but the _words_ that he sang had made no impression on him.

Jeff always sent Jack early to bed, for the unusual fatigue made the
little fellow feel very tired and weary towards night. He slept in the
waggon, for Jeff had said after the first day, 'Jest roll yersel' up
cosy in there. Lem an' I are used to sleepin' on the ground an' like
it best, but it's different for a kid like you.'

Jack soon became attached to the good-natured miner, and he felt as
long as he was present he need not feel in the least afraid of Lem
troubling him.

CHAPTER V.

JACK GOES IN SEARCH OF NIGGER.

For nearly three weeks the horses dragged the waggon slowly on over the
prairie, and although it was very hot and dusty, Jack was as happy as a
sandboy.

For some days they had made very short journeys, as one of the horses
had rubbed a sore place on its shoulder, and consequently refused to
pull at all. Lem at last had to tie it on at the back of the waggon,
and arrange the other three animals in unicorn fashion--that is, one in
front of two. This, of course, delayed their progress a good deal.

Jack was delighted with the novelty of all he saw, and a band of
antelopes bounding away in the distance nearly drove him wild with
excitement. One evening they came upon some cowboys who had just
bunched up a huge herd of cattle for the night. There were nearly
three thousand beasts, and it was a wonderful sight to