Shortly afterward the government sales for the land beyond Mount
Pleasant took place. Mr. Hardy went over to Rosario to attend them,
and bought the plot of four square leagues immediately adjoining
his own, giving the same price that he had paid for Mount Pleasant.
The properties on each side of this were purchased by the two
Edwards, and by an Englishman who had lately arrived in the colony.
His name was Mercer: he was accompanied by his wife and two young
children, and his wife's brother, whose name was Parkinson. Mr.
Hardy had made their acquaintance at Rosario, and pronounced them
to be a very pleasant family. They had brought out a considerable
capital, and were coming in a week with a strong force to erect
their house. Mr. Hardy had promised them every assistance, and had
invited Mrs. Mercer to take up her abode at Mount Pleasant with her
children, until the frame house which they had brought out could be
erected--an invitation which had been gladly accepted.
There was great pleasure at the thought of another lady in the
neighborhood; and Mrs. Hardy was especially pleased for the girls'
sake, as she thought that a little female society would be of very
great advantage to them.
The plots of land next to the Mercers and Edwards were bought, the
one by three or four Germans working as a company together, the
other by Don Martinez, an enterprising young Spaniard; so that the
Hardys began to be in quite an inhabited country.
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