Ma Honeywell, their mother, stopped when she saw Grace and gave her cheek a playful pinch. She had eleven children, most of them girls, though she could never find half of them.

'Hello, luv,' she said, smiling. 'How was business today?'

Ma Honeywell always asked the same question, only today Grace could give her a different answer. 'Good,' she said, smiling back. 'Very good! My uncle will be happy!'

Setting Sail

Mama told me we might be setting sail today,' Hannah said excitedly, between mouthfuls of bread and butter. 'Today we head for Sydney Cove on the open seas and become sailors!'

Grace sat in the wooden sleeping berth next to Hannah and watched her friend make a telescope with her hands. Hannah's chains knocked against each other as she held the telescope to her eye.

'Do you think we will know when the ship begins to sail?' Grace asked. It had been a week since she had seen the outside world and breathed fresh air - the ship was still anchored in the River Thames, being loaded with cargo for the six-month trip to Sydney Cove.

Wattle Park

The sun was low in the sky and the spring air growing cool when Tom, Grace's new master, rowed the small wooden boat to the river's edge. We must be close now, thought Grace, as she looked around at the cleared land sloping up from the bank.

'It's quite a walk to the property from here,' said Beth, Grace's new mistress, as she stood and rubbed her back. 'But I'll be glad to stretch my legs.'

The boat rocked and swayed in the shallows.

Homecoming

Grace was hanging a row of Alice's nappies on the line in the late afternoon sun when she heard men's voices coming from the track leading to the house. Tom must have returned from his journey, she thought.

Grace knew she should have been pleased her master was back to take care of things, but instead she felt an anxious knot in her stomach. She wondered what Tom would do when he discovered she had ridden his precious mare all the way along the East Trail and left the horse with a deep cut down her side. Grace wished she never had to face him.