Hang it all, what are we coming to, when we're turning into a blooming cargo boat for niggers ?' I had all too little of Tam's good company, for on the afternoon of the second day we reached the little town of Lourenco Marques.

This was my final landing in Africa, and I mind how eagerly I looked at the low, green shores and the bush-covered slopes of the mainland.

We were landed from boats while the ship lay out in the bay, and Tam came ashore with me to spend the evening.

By this time I had lost every remnant of homesickness.

I had got a job before me which promised better things than colleging at Edinburgh, and I was as keen to get up country now as I had been loth to leave England.