206 
NAPIER 
CHAP. 
for a long way up the hill in the distance. As they 
went, no one turned even a head to say good-bye, but 
sat, stolid - looking bundles, with apparently not an 
interest in life beyond the steamer below. Jerusalem, 
Corinth, Athens, London, and so on, are the names of 
these villages. 
The steamer has a primitive way of landing her 
passengers. Backing anywhere into the bank, a plank 
is laid across for women ; men are supposed to make 
the jump. Now and then a child ran along the bank 
with a letter to throw on board. When the steamer 
stops, these merry imps clamber on deck, and as she 
backs out into the stream they quickly go splashing 
helter-skelter on to land again or water, to them it 
doesn’t make much difference which. Four men ran 
along the shore calling for “ tucker ” ; they were sur- 
veyors who had run out of everything, and another 
stoppage was made. Lower down still an old woman 
waved her bundle ; the plank was laid on shore and 
she came on board. She had been spending a week 
with her sister who had just died. Her husband was 
away, and she was going back to her little farm very 
sorrowful. “ If I had but a bit leddie to bide wi’ me,” 
she said wistfully, “ maybe I’d greet less the nicht.” 
A lady had once gone to stay with her, it seems, and 
she wanted me to follow her example. Besides, I was 
in mourning, and she felt that I could feel for her in 
her trouble. There was really no reason why I should 
not yield to the impulse which prompted me to say 
“ yes ” to her modest, but evidently heart-felt request ; 
so I went with her at the next stopping place. By 
turns she carried my bag and I her bundle, until we 
reached her homestead, about a mile off. It was a 
clean little place, with a few sheep and cattle about ; 
they sold the butter they made, with eggs and 
