138 MY SOMALI BOOK 



The next morning crossing a corner of the Seila 

 Plain the glasses showed me a pair of oryx horns 

 sticking up in the distance. Approaching I found 

 there was a herd of a dozen, all lying down in the 

 open. Between 150 and 200 yards from them was 

 one solitary bush, which I succeeded in reaching after 

 half an hour's crawl. By this time, however, they 

 were on their legs and looking in my direction with 

 suspicion, and before I could get in a shot they began 

 to move. 



However, I hit one, a little behind the lungs I 

 think, and he galloped off away from the rest. He 

 stood at about 350 yards and under the circumstances, 

 as the pony had a sore back and was with the caravan, 

 I certainly ought to have fired then. Unfortunately, 

 thinking he would not have stopped unless he was 

 badly hit, I let the chance go, hoping to get nearer. 

 But he went off again and doubled the distance. I 

 waited for him to lie down but he would not, then 

 followed in vain for some time, and eventually, when 

 he joined the herd again, I realised that he was not 

 vitally wounded and had to give up ; for the caravan 

 was miles ahead and we had far to go that day. 



That evening our camp was " drowned." We 

 had only just halted and got the tent up, no time to 

 make a trench or embankment, when the most tre- 

 mendous rain came down. In fifteen minutes, the 

 whole zariba, inside the tent and out, was under water ; 

 fifteen minutes more at the same rate and the rain had 

 stopped. And then we had a great time draining the 

 zariba. The floor of the tent, after the water had been 

 got rid of, had to be all dug up and we were hard at 



