'Aye, of course I can. I'll sing you the one as father liked best, for he used to sing it when he was freightin' an' campin' out as we're doin' now.' 'Give it us, my lad,' said Jeff, as he refilled his pipe, and prepared to listen. Jack had a sweet young voice, and, possessing a good ear for music, he had quickly picked up the tunes of his favourite hymns from his parents, who both sang well. Delighted to please his new friend, he struck up 'For ever with the Lord,' repeating the last half of the first verse as a chorus after all the verses. Fresh and clear his voice rang out, and when he came to the last two lines-- 'Yet nightly pitch my moving tent A day's march nearer home'-- he seemed to throw his whole energy into the words. [Illustration: 'JACK STRUCK UP, "FOR EVER WITH THE LORD."'] The hymn struck home to rough Jeff, and when it was ended he said: 'That's the way, lad. It's almost as if them words were written for such rovin' chaps as us. Don't stop. I like it. Give us another.' Jack was only too glad to go on. He sang his mother's favourite, 'My God, my Father, while I stray,' and followed it by many more, until his voice got tired. Sometimes he forgot a verse here and there, but he remembered enough to show Jeff that he must have sung the hymns day after day, to know them so well by heart. Lem had sat silently on the far side of the camp fire, and as Jack ceased singing, he said sneeringly: 'Say, Jeff, you ain't been much o' a hymn-fancier afore to-night, I reckon.' 'No, I ain't,' returned the miner quietly; 'more's the pity, perhaps. If I'd had such a mother to teach _me_, I dare say I'd have lived a deal straighter life than I have done. I don't remember my mother. She died when I was a babby, but if she'd been like Jack's, I reckon I'd have gone as far to see her as he's agoin'.' Lem grunted. In spite of himself he had liked listening to the boy's singing, but the _words_ that he sang had made no impression on him. Jeff always sent Jack early to bed, for the unusual fatigue made the little fellow feel very tired and weary towards night. He slept in the waggon, for Jeff had said after the first day, 'Jest roll yersel' up cosy in there. Lem an' I are used to sleepin' on the ground an' like it best, but it's different for a kid like you.' Jack soon became attached to the good-natured miner, and he felt as long as he was present he need not feel in the least afraid of Lem troubling him. CHAPTER V. JACK GOES IN SEARCH OF NIGGER. For nearly three weeks the horses dragged the waggon slowly on over the prairie, and although it was very hot and dusty, Jack was as happy as a sandboy.