CHAPTER V.
"I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul."
Hamlet,Act 1. Sc. 5.
William leisurely followed the track of the Sawyers' dray for about an hour, when he came up to their encampment, where they had apparently fixed upon a spot for their station. They must have been early in their departure from Fern Vale, and industrious in the interval; for, at the moment of William's arrival, they had got up a tent, under which they had placed the loading from their dray; while, amongst the various packages, the fair Hebe of the previous night was to be seen busily plunging, tugging, and sorting. Already pegs were placed at various distances in the ground to point out the boundaries for their respective enclosures and establishments; and a large tree lay stretched on the sward, in the spot on which it had fallen when succumbing to the axe of the younger Sawyer. The paternal couple were engaged dissecting the monster in sections of about nine longitudinal feet, and were plying the cross-cut saw with a will; while the son was driving an iron wedge into one of the lengths, thus dissected, to split it up into slabs for the erection of their hut.
William had approached close to this industrious family, before their attention was diverted from their work by a knowledge of his presence; and the old man raising his head from his stooping posture, as the saw cut through the log, greeted him with a "good morning," that was echoed by the group.
"There, old woman," said her husband, "you can go help Mary Ann in the tent, and I'll go on splitting with Reuben. Well, young un," said he, turning to William, "yon chap at your place, last night, I guess was a parson; he wanted to give me a sermon, but I didn't see it, so I cut it short; what does he do there with you?"
"Nothing," replied William, "he is merely a friend of ours, and only came to the station with me yesterday; he is a kind-hearted excellent man, and I am sure whatever he would have said to you would have been sound advice."