283 HOME LIFE ON AN OSTRICH FARM. 



to welcome returning colonists, spoilt by a long con- 

 tinuance of Cape sunshine — we drop quietly into South- 

 ampton ; English violets and primroses are brought on 

 board in delicious profusion; the usual hurried farewells 

 are exchanged while most of us struggle wildly with 

 refractory bags and wraps; Toto, in an alarmingly 

 plethoric condition, waddles forth from his hen-coop ; 

 and very soon we are on terra firma, and — paying the 

 first dread penalty of the newly-landed — pass through 

 the ordeal of the Custom House. This turns out to be 

 a very lengthy and tedious business ; for, since we have 

 been away, new and stringent regulations have come 

 into force, and we find that our innocent cabin-trunks 

 and hand-bags are all suspected of containing dynamite. 

 Not until every package has been thoroughly ransacked 

 are we allowed to depart, and seek our train. Then 

 the latter bears us along through woodland scenery, 

 brilliant with all the fresh tints of an English spring, 

 which for us seems to have a new beauty. And in a 

 few hours we find ourselves back in old, familiar scenes ; 

 friends from whom we have long been parted are 

 round us once more ; and the dear, delightful, rough 

 South African life is a thing of the past. 



THE END. 



