“After the first joy of our meeting was over, I was amazed and somewhat bewildered to see two natives in their strange and picturesque native dress following as close to my husband as space would allow. They beamed broadly when they saw me and realised I was their master’s wife, and at once proceeded to salaam to me with deep bows to the ground. They followed my husband all through the Customs, so closely that they gave one the impression that if they missed him for a single minute they would be lost for ever. [Illustration: SAKARI; BUCHANAN; FERI N’GASHI; ALI TOGETHER TO THE END] “I asked one if he felt cold. He replied: ‘Yes, Miss—plenty cold.’ (Which may tell of the heat of the Sahara, for it was a lovely June day.) He then explained that: ‘Master be plenty strong, and in Sahara go walk, walk, walk all the time; and after that plenty work—he never go for sleep.’ These thoughts seemed to be uppermost in his mind. “At this point the Marine Superintendent came up to me and, with an ingratiating smile, remarked that I was all right now. Then he told me that he had read in the morning’s paper of my husband’s trip, and that it had been well worth while to watch our happy meeting, and to realise what the pass meant to me. He then shook my husband warmly by the hand, and we all stood chatting together. “Afterwards we proceeded to London and, following a brief stay, which seemed to be full of interviews with the Press, and in every way a whirl of excitement, we came at last home to Scotland and the restfulness of a Highland village. “Our wee girl Sheila ran to the gate to meet us, and the faithful old Labrador, Niger, who was overjoyed at sight of his long-lost master. . . . And all the long, weary months of waiting were forgotten, and the lovely thought stood out that the object of the expedition had been achieved, and we were once again to be together.” CHAPTER XV CIVILISATION [Illustration] CHAPTER XV CIVILISATION What tremendous import lies behind the single word that heads this final chapter! Indeed, it may be the key-word to the whole future of the universe, for civilisation, or rather, over-civilisation, is swaying the world from all reasonable balance, while we drift with the tide, or struggle unheard: and no plan evolves to set back the engulfing flood. I have a dictionary before me which clearly states that to civilise is: “To reclaim from barbarism; to instruct in arts and refinements.” If civilisation succeeded to that end alone it would be a happy world indeed. But has not the so-called civilisation of to-day decidedly turned toward other intents altogether, where greed and selfishness largely play an absorbing part?