they were rude and rough;
They fought and scratched,
Nor would they stop
When they had had enough.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

At last,
When happy, hot and tired,
They found no more to see,
Sam took her to a shady spot
And treated her to tea.

Selina's hat and dress he praised,
She clapped his feeblest puns;
It was a perfect carnival
Of sentiment and Buns!

Much time, alas! they cannot spare,
Since holidays are few;
Soon, hand in hand, they start afresh
To seek adventures new.

And all about along the walks
Stern "Cautions" they espy;
"You need not fear," said Samuel,
"While I, my love, am nigh."

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

Alas! how brief are mortal joys;
There comes an awful burbling noise!

As, terror-struck, he turns to fly,
Too late he hears her anguished cry,

"O Samuel!
O Samuel!!

Beware!
The awful
Camuel"!!!

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

The Camel rushed!
The Camel flew!
Till all its spots were streaks of blue;
To Samuel it seemed to be
Itself a whole
Menagerie!

The Camel chased him round and round;
He sank--exhausted--on the ground;
The Camel never noticed that,
But pranced along--
with Sammy's hat.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

_And_--when it found its victim gone,
Imagine how the brute went on;
It bucked and reared
and kicked
and shied,
Till, finally,
It BUST!
and died.

When Sammy heard the loud report
And saw the pieces fly,
He felt that sure as eggs was eggs,
He, too, must surely die.

But brave Selina, though her tears
Fell all the while like rain,
Washed off the dirt and set him up
Upon his feet again.

[Illustration]

[Illustration]

She found the remnants of his hat,
And led him to the gate;
But there the Camel's owner stood
As large and grim