ight Infantry Band playing "Just a little
bit off the Top" as a march.

The _Philomel_ and the hospital ship _Orcana_ had been dressed
for the occasion, and a number of their comrades assembled at the
Passenger Jetty and cheered them on arrival. They were afterwards
conveyed to the cruisers.

Among the Navals who returned from the front this morning is a
little canine hero, "Jack" the terrier, which has shared their
fortunes throughout the war. When they left Durban ten months ago
a little fox terrier followed them. While at the front he never
left them, although he was not particular with whom he fed or
what kind of weather prevailed. The firing of a 4.7 gun did not
discourage him, and through the booming of big guns and the
rattle of musketry he stuck by his adopters. Through every
engagement he went, and has come back bearing an honourable scar
on the head--shot by a Mauser bullet. The men, needless to say,
idolise the little hero, whose neck is decorated with a large
blue ribbon from which is suspended a Transvaal Commemoration
Medal.

After inserting this account, there is, perhaps, nothing more to be
recorded except to say how grateful we all felt to the Mayor and
people of Durban for the kind and indeed magnificent reception they
gave us; and we could not but add our thanks to Commander Dundas of
the _Philomel_, to whose energy and good will, as senior Naval
Officer, the success of the reception was greatly due.

_Tuesday, 30th October._--After saying good-bye to many old friends of
the _Philomel_, and others, and undergoing lunches and dinners (of
which the most amusing and lively one was with Captain Bearcroft of
the _Philomel_ who led the Naval Brigade under Lord Roberts and whom I
was glad to have met before sailing) I got on board the _Tantallon
Castle_, finding Commander Dundas on board and coming home in the same
mail. We left Durban on a beautiful day, and I was glad to find myself
in possession of a large cabin. And so I must end this long and
rambling Journal on seeing the last of Natal, merely adding that we
had rather a rough passage, after touching at Port Elizabeth, up to
Mossel Bay, a most picturesque place on account of the towering peaks
and ranges of hills running close to the coast-line. We reached
Capetown on the 5th November, and I found Table Mountain and the
general view much more striking than I