fortnight.'

'What,' cried Peterson, 'throwin' up your billet?'

'I'm wanted in England,' said the master, tapping the paper.

There was a roar at this, which Joel treated with sublime indifference,
but curiosity prompted Peterson to examine the paper closely when the
teacher had set it aside, and he found the following advertisement:

'If this should meet the eye of Joel Hamlyn, second brother of Sir Just
Hamlyn, of Darnstable, he is hereby informed of the death of his brother
and of his succession to the title and estates. Any information
respecting the above Joel Hamlyn will be thankfully received.' Then
followed a description of Joel Hamlyn that was decidedly applicable to
Joel Ham, and the address of a firm of Melbourne solicitors.

The schoolmaster said nothing to satisfy the curiosity of his committee,
but was more communicative in the presence of Frank Hardy.

'I am Sir Joel Hamlyn now,' he said, grinning down at his white moleskins
and broken boots. 'Just and I hated each other like brothers. He was
eminently respectable, I was eminently otherwise. We parted with mutual
satisfaction, but he had two boys when I left England, both of whom have
since died, or there would have been no anxious and respectful inquiries
for my disreputable self.'

'Well, I congratulate you,' said Frank. 'It will be an agreeable change.'

'I do not know,' said Sir Joel; 'I have got drunk on beer here, I shall