132 TROPIC DAYS 



saturated with opium. For her own salvation she was 

 transported to the settlement afar off, with its frontier 

 of sea and background of repulsive hills. She went, 

 being in the clutches of a superior force, tractably 

 enough, but with none of her unconquerable love of 

 country subdued. Nelly has nothing of an attractive 

 nature. She has a vixenish temper at times ; is always on 

 the alert for fancied slights ; is by no means cleanly, unless 

 under duress ; and does not hesitate to foment subjects of 

 quarrel. Few among her relations and friends would 

 mourn her exile. Even her own son, Jim, was scoffingly 

 indifferent. She was far from being so, but played her 

 part well, being obedient, quite tame, and ever observant. 



She "sat down" at the settlement, and made friends 

 with two or three of the women there with wliom she 

 had previously been acquainted ; but while she talked 

 with apparent resignation, she scanned the hills, 

 especially fixing in her mind a particular gulh' which 

 leads up to a ridge promising an outlook to the south, 

 upon which her hopes were fixed. Soon after dark on 

 the second night she took to the bush, carrying a 

 dilly-bag and a blanket. She is now one of the popula- 

 tion of a far-distant settlement, the site of which happens 

 to be within her own country. How she overcame the 

 distance without food, friends, or resources, has to be 

 told, though not altogether in her own language, for 

 such would be unintelligible to the ordinar}' reader. 



.She was determined to run away as soon as the 

 steamer landed her, for that part of the North was 

 not her country, and she could not live anywhere else. 

 Besides, she was "sorry belonga that boy Jim." Dur- 

 ing the first night of her homeward pilgrimage she 

 never ceased walking among rocks and through the 

 scrub, for she was fearful of being recaptured. Without 

 pause she clambered on until well into the next day. 



