en we
meet--in the better land."

Thus he died with his rugged head resting on the bosom of his loved and
loving son.

CHAPTER THIRTY.

THE NEW HOME.

Once again, and for the last time, we shift our scene to Canada--to the
real backwoods now--the Brandon Settlement.

Sir Richard, you see, had been a noted sportsman in his youth. He had
chased the kangaroo in Australia, the springbok in Africa, and the tiger
in India, and had fished salmon in Norway, so that his objections to the
civilised parts of Canada were as strong as those of the Red Indians
themselves. He therefore resolved, when making arrangements to found a
colony, to push as far into the backwoods as was compatible with comfort
and safety. Hence we now find him in the _very_ far West.

We decline to indicate the exact spot, because idlers, on hearing of its
fertility and beauty and the felicity of its inhabitants, might be
tempted to crowd to it in rather inconvenient numbers. Let it suffice
to say, in the language of the aborigines, that it lies towards the
setting sun.

Around Brandon Settlement there are rolling prairies, illimitable
pasture-land, ocean-like lakes, grand forests, and numerous rivers and
rivulets, with flat-lands, low-lands, high-lands, undulating lands,
wood-lands, and, in the far-away distance, glimpses of the back-bone of
America--peaked, and blue, and snow-topped.

The population of this happy region consists largely of waifs with a
considerable sprinkling of strays. There are also several families of
"haristocrats," who, however, are not "bloated"--very much the reverse.

The occupation of the people is, as might be expected, agricultural;
but, as the colony is very active and thriving and growing fast, many
other branches of industry have sprung up, so that the hiss of the saw
and the ring of the anvil, the clatter of the water-mill, and the clack
of the loom, may be heard in all parts of it.

There is a rumour that a branch of the Great Pacific Railway is to be
run within a mile of the Brandon Settlement; but that is not yet
certain. The rumour, however, has caused much joyful hope to some, and
rather sorrowful anxiety to others. Mercantile men rejoice at the
prospect. Those who are fond of sport tremble, for it is generally
supposed, though on insufficient grounds, that the railway-whistle
frightens away game. Any one who has travelled in the Scottish
Highlands and seen grouse close to the line regarding you