our scratched hands and faces bore traces of the thorny undergrowth
which had barred our way; but all minor discomforts were forgotten
in the picturesque beauty of the spot. Around us lay the
forest-kings, majestic still in their overthrow, whilst substantial
stacks of cut-up and split timber witnessed to the skill and
industry of the stalwart figures before us, who reddened through
their sunburn with surprise and shyness at seeing a lady. They need
not have been afraid of me, for I had long ago made friends with
them, and during the preceeding winter had established a sort of
night-school in my dining-room, for all the hands employed on the
station, and these two men had been amongst my most constant pupils.
One of them, a big Yorkshire-man, was very backward in his
"larning," and though he plodded on diligently, never got beyond the
simplest words in the largest type. Small print puzzled him at
once, and he had a habit of standing or sitting with his back to me
whilst repeating his lessons. Nothing would induce him to face me.
The moment it became his turn to go on with the chapter out of the
Bible, with which we commenced our studies, that instant he turned
his broad shoulders towards me, and I could only, hear the faintest
murmurs issuing from the depths of a great beard. Remonstrance
would have scared my shy pupil away, so I was fain to put up with
his own method of instruction.

But this is a digression, and I want to make you see with my eyes
the beautiful glimpses of distant country lying around the bold
wooded cliff on which we were standing. The ground fell away from
our feet so completely in some places, that we could see over the
tops of the high trees around us, whilst in others the landscape
appeared framed in an arch of quivering foliage. A noisy little
creek chattered and babbled as it hurried along to join its big