His love of the sea, Elizabethan in its intensity, was heightened by his enjoyment of Greek literature, especially the Odyssey, which he considered ideal reading for a ship, and, as it surely is, on ship or on shore, an incomparable tale of adventure.
Before the end of the year Froude was at Cape Town, renewing his acquaintance with familiar scenes.

Many of his former friends were dead, and his courteous enemy, now Sir John Molteno, had left Cape Town as well as public life.

The Prime Minister was Mr.Upington, a clever lawyer, afterwards Sir Thomas Upington, and the chief topic was Sir Charles Warren's expedition to Bechuanaland, which happily did not end in war, as Upington apprehended that it would.

Sir Hercules Robinson was Governor and High Commissioner, a man after Froude's heart, "too upright to belong to any party," and thoroughly appreciative of all that was best in the Boers.

This time Froude's stay was a short one, and early in 1885 he was at Melbourne.