THE BAG BROKE WITH THE FORCE OF THE BLOW. p. 35.
JACK,
THE ENGLISHMAN
BY
H. LOUISA BEDFORD
AUTHOR OF
"HER ONLY SON, ISAAC" "MRS. MERRIMAN'S GODCHILD," ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY WAL PAGET
LONDON
SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING
CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE
NEW YORK AND TORONTO: THE MACMILLAN CO.
Printed in Great Britain by Wyman & Sons Ltd.,
London, Reading and Fakenham.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I. HIS TITLE
II. A CHUM
III. NEW NEIGHBOURS
IV. A BUSH BROTHER
V. A CHURCH OFFICIAL
VI. MINISTERING CHILDREN
VII. A BISHOP'S VISIT
VIII. TWO LEAVE-TAKINGS
IX. A SURPRISE VISIT
X. A BUSH TOUR
XI. A NARROW ESCAPE
XII. GOING HOME
XIII. TWO VENTURES OF HOPE
JACK, THE ENGLISHMAN
CHAPTER I
HIS TITLE.
It was a beautiful spring afternoon in the northernhill districts of Tasmania. The sky was of a bird'segg blue, which even Italy cannot rival, and thebold outline of hills which bounded the horizon,bush clad to the top, showed a still deeper azureblue in an atmosphere which, clear as the heavenabove, had never a suggestion of hardness.Removed some half-mile from the little township ofWallaroo lay a farm homestead nestling against theside of the hill, protected behind by a belt of treesfrom the keen, strong mountain winds, andsurrounded by a rough wood paling; but the broadverandah in the front lay open to the sunshine,and even in winter could often be used as the familydining-room. The garden below it was a mass offlowers for at least six months in the year, and therewas scarcely a month when there was a total absenceof them.
The house, one-storied and built of wood like allthe houses in the country districts, was in themiddle of the home paddock; the drive up to itlittle more than a cart track across the field, whichwas divided from the farm road which skirted it bya fence of tree trunks, rough hewn and laid oneon the top of the other. A strong gate guardedthe entrance, and on it sat Jack, the Englishman,his bare, brown feet clinging to one of the lowerbars, his firmly set head thrown back a littleon his broad shoulders as he rolled out "RuleBritannia" from his lusty lungs. Many and variouswere the games he had played in the paddock thisafternoon, but pretending things by yourself pallsafter a time, and Ja