"Be reasonable, Vladimir Danilovitch; it will do your friend no harm to inquire." He then questioned the old man as to the nearest way, and taking Vladimir by the arm, led him away in the direction of the dreaded house. On reaching it he left Vladimir at the entrance, and having ascertained that Borisoff was not there, proposed to go to the Nicholaeffsky Battery, which was turned for a time into a vast hospital capable of containing six hundred patients, who, like the unfortunate inmates of "Goustchine's house," and other refuges for the victims of war, were tended by the gentle Sisters of Charity.

Here they found him; but let Vladimir tell his own tale in a letter to Petre Petrovitch.

. . . We ran up the narrow staircase to the second story, and through the barrack, which was full of bedsteads; on the left hand lay several patients who had just undergone amputation. I cannot express the feeling of horror and compassion that overcame me at the sight of these sufferers, and especially (you will hardly believe me) that of the empty beds; who knows,' I thought, 'but that I may be the next to occupy one of them ?' It was nearly dark in the place; at the window we observed a group of persons, among whom, like a ministering and guardian angel, stood a Sister of Charity. The surgeon in a sort of dressing gown made of tick in a peculiar fashion, was at work. Chloroform had been administered to the patient, but he came to his senses just as we passed him, and called aloud for his pipe, which was instantly given him, and at the same time the sister gave him a glass of vodka or something. Give me some more, matoushka,' be said coaxingly; but the surgeon's assistant observed spitefully, 'I can see that you were sent for a soldier to cure you of drunkenness.' 'For drunkenness or not,' replied the man, 'I am ready to die for the Tzar!' He had bad three fingers taken off. You know me well enough to understand that I neither invent nor exaggerate.

"With some difficulty we hunted out poor Valerian; he was asleep. The sister of charity who was nearest to his couch said that he had been wounded in the head just

above the temple, by the fragment of a shell. She assured us that there was no cause for alarm, 'otherwise,' she said with a smile that was of itself encouraging, 'he would not be here.' She appeared a cheerful, active little woman, but looked so tired that I longed to offer my services for a while, that she might rest. But when I glanced again at the rows of beds, saw the pale distressed faces of those that filled them, and heard the various sounds of pain and restlessness, I thanked fortune that I was only an humble ratnik.”

The wound proved a mere trifle, though at the time he was brought to the hospital he was insensible, and the surgeons feared that injury had been done to the brain by the shock k; but two days afterwards he left the battery, looking extremely wretched, with his bound-up head, his eyes hollow and staring, and his cheeks yellow from sunburn, and pale from loss of blood. He wrote a droll letter home, which quite put the minds of the anxious relatives to rest on his account, and again took his place on the third bastion, where he was a great favourite with officer and soldier.

SUFFERING FOR CHRIST'S SAKE.

"Unto you it is given (èxapíσon—as a favour) in the behalf of CHRIST, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake."-Philipp. i. 29. Comp. 2 Cor. xii. 7.

MY GOD, I understand how faith and love

Are gifts of grace,

Dropt from the wings of Thy most holy Dove,
Like heavenly dew distilling,

With fresh bright verdure filling

What else had been a poor, dry, barren place.

I understand that, if I persevere,

And win at last

A glorious crown in yon bright, happy sphere,
My sin and guilt confessing,

Thy grace and mercy blessing,

I shall my crown before Thy footstool cast.

But, oh, my God, to suffer for Thy Name,

Is this too given?

Is it of grace that I partake the shame

Of Him, Who on the Cross

Endured the pain, the loss,

That I might one day reign with Him in heaven?

Is this sharp-piercing thorn that rankles so

A gift of grace?

Is it a favour to be brought thus low?
Are Satan's deadly spite,

The world's proud scorn and slight,

Bestowed in love to spur me in the race?

As a mail will be made up for England on the 26th, I mean to send you an account of our proceedings up to the present time, if possible; though, as you wish me to be so minute, I am not sure that I shall have time for all.

When I closed my last letter, I set to work to cut up some firewood; and whilst I was thus busily engaged, Î heard a voice, "E hoa, e Heneri, tena koe;" and looking up, I saw our Maori acquaintance of the day before with a handsome intelligent-looking boy of twelve years old by his side. They came over to the heap of firewood, and shook hands with me; the man then took up the axe, and soon cut up a good quantity of wood. As the pieces were cut, the boy took them up and carried them to the kitchen, where I piled them up ready for use. When they seemed to think that they had done enough, I gave them each a thick piece of bread and butter.

The boy's handsome face and bright sparkling intelligent eyes greatly attracted me; and, as I was patting him on the head, the man said, "You like piccaninny ki

te mahi? make a work ?" I nodded assent, and then he continued, "Ho atu te kaikai, te kakahu;" making me understand that I was to give him food and clothing for his services; then, saying something to the boy, and shaking hands with me, to my great surprise he walked away, leaving the boy with me. I did not know what to do, for I could not explain that I did not want the boy then, but that I should like him to come some other day. However, the man was gone, and the boy was left; so I was obliged to make the best of it. I thought, if he could not do much work, at all events he would be able to teach us the Maori language. Just at this time the meat, potatoes, and other things were brought to the door, and I set about preparing the dinner. I put the meat into the oven, and when I began to wash the potatoes, my boy (whose name I found was Hoani, i.e. John) took them from me and did them himself, putting them into the saucepan as if he had been quite accustomed to it. When I laid the cloth for dinner, you would have been greatly amused to have seen little Hoani looking at the things, and saying, every now and then, Ka pai, ka pai" (It is good, it is good.)

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As soon as the work was done, I made him give himself a good scrubbing from head to foot, and having hunted out an old pair of Arthur's trowsers, which I shortened in a very inartistic manner, I made him put them on, with a flannel shirt to complete his costume; and then, with his hair neatly brushed, the little page presented a strikingly handsome appearance.

These operations were hardly concluded before we heard Charles and Arthur approaching the house. When they came in, and saw my companion, and recognised his garments, their look of astonishment was most ludicrous. "Come, now, this is too bad," Charles at length exclaimed. "You should have waited till we were far back in the forest; but here, close to the town! Why, we shall be eaten by the natives, and hung, and put in prison, and driven out of the country. This was what our tattooed acquaintance of yesterday was talking about when he met us in the town. We knew that it was something about his piccaninny. He was doubtless

going to tell the magistrates, and his countrymen, and everybody, how shamefully you had kidnapped his child. Oh, Henry, I thought that I might have trusted you; but to kidnap a child, and steal your brother's clothes!" Here he pretended to be overwhelmed with grief: you know his droll way. Hoani was looking on in the utmost astonishment, not knowing what to make of it till he saw me laugh, and then he seemed to comprehend something of the joke, for he laughed and said, "Ka pai, te pakeha" (Well done, the foreigner.) I now told my brothers all that had passed in their absence, and they agreed with me that the boy might prove very useful. Then I inquired about their proceedings. Arthur informed me that Mrs. Hocker had told them of a person who was agent for several absentee landowners, and a landowner himself, but acting now as a sort of merchant or wholesale storekeeper.

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"Shall we be able to manage as we wish ?" I asked, rather anxiously. "I'll tell you all about it," said Arthur. "We went to his store, and Charles told him that we had a land-order for one of the best sections on the Waitara, but before deciding what to do, we wished to learn upon what terms we could effect an exchange.

"The man strongly advised us not to wait till Waitara should be purchased, but to settle at once. I asked him where we could get land; he said that there was a large block of bush land in the Omata district to choose from.

"Charles spoke of the disadvantages of forest land. However, after some further talk, the man said that if we were disposed to part with our order, he thought that he could offer us favourable terms, which Charles asked him to set down in writing in order that you might see them. He will let us have a hundred acres seven miles from the town, for which we must give him our land-order, and £20 cash. There is at present no cart road within a mile of the place, but one is to be made before the end of the month. Now what do you say to these terms? We vote for their being accepted." After a little consideration I agreed to the proposal, and then Charles told me that as the man had business in