SPOR T IN ABYSSINIA. 1 79 



they had managed to save. The next morning I had 

 nothing to give them, but they seemed to bear it all 

 without complaint. I went out to try and kill some 

 of the little sand-grouse for myself, but I did not 

 succeed. When I came into camp Petros informed 

 me the donkey-boy had broken down ; and when he 

 had brought in the animals to tie them up for the 

 night, that he had begun to cry and had said, "Where's 

 master } for I want something to eat." I was at m>' 

 wit's-end what to do, as it was two long days' march 

 to the nearest village, which was Azho, and I had 

 only just enough rice for one meal. 



Things looked very bad ; the evening closed in, 

 and, just before it got dark, Petros shouted out, 

 "Oh, here is the flour!" It was not our own flour, 

 it was a leading party of a caravan which was 

 goincr throuc^h to Walkait. This was indeed a 

 God-send ! I saw there was no time to be lost, 

 so I called for my rifle, and the first donkey I 

 saw that looked as if it was loaded with flour I 

 seized, led to the camp, unloaded it, and poured out 

 the flour on the tarpaulin sheet which generally 

 formed the floor of our tent. The owner of the 

 donkey, as well as some of the rest of the caravan, 

 were, I believe, going to expostulate ; but I told one 

 of my servants to tell them if they moved I would 

 shoot them, and that we were starving and we must 



