MY SOMALI BOOK 33 



and very spick and span ; the idea no doubt being to 

 fascinate Mistress Nannie alike by his elegance and by 

 his indifference to her charms. 



The lady's attitude, however, is, and continues to 

 be, one of disdain, tempered by suspicion ; till at last 

 Master Jack, finding it slow (or getting hungry !) gets 

 up and strolls, still in the most genteel fashion, toward 

 her. But his advances are received in the most 

 chilling manner as he walks round her, saying in a 

 deprecatory sort of way, " Why so stand-offish to an 

 old pal ? " Nannie makes no pretensions to be 

 anything but of the masses, who have not yet learned 

 that language is intended for the concealment of 

 thought, and whose modes of expression are vigorous. 

 She keeps him at horn's length : " Garn ! think I 

 don't know yer ? You dirty, mean, skulking son of a 

 crab-eater ! " Our jackal, living a hundred miles 

 from the coast, has never seen a crab in his life, but he 

 does not like being reminded of the family taste for 

 such things, which is considered low. So he promptly 

 loses his temper and makes a vicious snap at the goat's 

 hind leg, the veneer of gentilit}^ vanishing at once. 

 The goat twists nimbly round, keeping her horns, 

 such as they are, towards him, and only says, " Think 

 I'm afraid of you ? You just hook it ! " At this 

 Jack puts on his deprecating air again : " What's the 

 matter with you to-day, my dear ? as if you didn't 

 know I was only playing." " Don't you, ' my dear ' 

 me, you— you — crabby ! " This is a little too much, 

 and the reply is another savage snap which nearly 

 gets home. But now poor Nannie is beginning to 

 lose her self-confidence, and the tone of her " Yah 1 



