of his reappearance, and my imagination at once 

 made clear to me what adventurous hardships he 

 must have been exposed to. I conjectured that, 

 without the graceful and charming companions 

 of the golliwog in the story-book, having lost his 

 way, he wandered about for days, anxious and 

 wet, for the weather was unpropitious, in the 

 shrubberies, sleeping the nights under such shel- 

 ter as the thickest box-bushes or rhododendrons 

 afforded. At length, having searched in vain for 

 his friends, who were comfortably housed in the 

 doll's house and story-book, he doubtless reached 

 the banks of " The Drain," famished, bedraggled, 

 and footsore. The gardener says he found him 

 on the ground and put him in the punt ; but that 

 must be a pleasant fiction, for my own conviction 

 is that from the shores of " The Drain " the golli- 

 wog saw the punt with his mistress* name painted 

 upon it in red letters and that having learned to 

 read he recognized these, swam off from the bank, 

 clambered over the side of the punt and sat him- 

 self upon the seat to rest from his exertions. If 

 any one doubts this account of what must have 

 happened they are welcome to inspect "The 



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