“I accept your proffered aid, my dear girls, but, as yet, I am only picturing a future career for myself.  After a day devoted to such labors as these, I return to my home, perhaps to be welcomed by a little circle of my own, for I hope to be received as a minister of the Protestant Church, and, as such, may look forward to a partner in my joys and troubles.  Should Providence, however, shape my destiny otherwise, I shall have the poor and afflicted—­always a numerous family—­to bestow my affections upon.  But, whilst much of my time is thus passed amongst the sorrowing and the sick, still there are hours of gaiety amongst the gloom—­there are weddings, christenings, and merrymakings—­there are happy faces to greet me as well as sad ones—­and I am no ascetic.  I take part in all the innocent amusements that are not inconsistent with my years or the gravity of my profession—­but you seem sad, Mrs. Wolston.”

“Yes, Frank; you have recalled my absent son, Richard, so vividly to my memory, that I cannot help shedding a tear.”

“Is your son in orders then, madam?”

“He is precisely what you have pictured yourself to be, a minister of the gospel, and a most exemplary young man.”

“If,” remarked Becker, “we have hitherto refrained from inquiring after your son, madam, it was because we had no wish to recall to your mind the distance that separated you from him, and we should be glad to know his history.”

“There is little to relate; he is very young yet, and as soon as he had obtained his ordination, he was offered a mission to Oregon, which he accepted; but the ship having been detained at the Cape of Good Hope, he regarded the accident as a divine message, to convert the heathen of Kafraria, where he now is.”

“It is no sinecure to live amongst these copper-colored rascals,” said Willis; “they are constantly stealing the cattle of the Dutch settlers in their neighborhood.  About twelve years ago, our ship was stationed at the Cape, and I was sent with a party of blue jackets into the interior, as far as Fort Wiltshire, on the Krieskamma, the most remote point of the British possessions in South Africa.  There we dispersed a cloud of them that had been for weeks living upon other people’s property.  They are tall, wiry fellows, as hardy as a pine tree, and as daring as buccaneers.  The chief of the kraals, or huts, wear leopard or panther skins, and profess to have the power of causing rain to fall, besides an endless number of other miraculous attributes.  Amongst them, a wife of the ordinary class costs eight head of cattle, but the price of a young lady of the higher ranks runs as high as twenty cows.  When a Kafir is suspected of a crime, his tongue is touched seven times with hot iron, and if it is not burnt he is declared innocent.”

“I am afraid,” said Jack, “if they were all subjected to that test, they would be found to be a very bad lot.  But now, since we have all decided upon a profession, let us hear what the young ladies intend doing with themselves; let them consult their imagination for a beautiful future gilded with sunshine, and embroidered with gold.”