SUSPICIOUS BEHAVIOUR 



finished speaking, my headman pointed to a couple of 

 Somali, who could just be seen at the edge of the 

 bush, watching us. He called to them to come into 

 camp, instead of doing which they immediately ran 

 away. These strange Somali skulking in the bush, 

 their suspicious behaviour and the drift of their 

 questions to the syce, seemed to indicate the prob- 

 ability of an attack, and my position would have 

 been very ugly had I not fortunately met the friendly 

 Maghabul Somali that morning. Even so, it was highly 

 unpleasant, situated as I was in a small clearing sur- 

 rounded by bush which afforded ample cover for the 

 enemy, and which would prevent effective rifle fire 

 until they were so close that they could rush us. 



My own men were very nervous and were ex- 

 hausted by the hard work of the last few days, but 

 the chief of the friendlies offered to send out a small 

 scouting-party of his men to reconnoitre, an offer 

 which I accepted. For the next few hours my men 

 worked feverishly to make our position as strong as 

 possible. I had a small but very strong zariba 

 erected in the shape of a hollow square. At one 

 corner I posted two askaris, three syces and my gun- 

 bearer, and at the opposite corner the other two 

 askaris, three more syces and my headman. The 

 loads formed another smaller square in the centre, 

 and the spare ammunition was spread out in charge 

 of Campi Mbaya, the skinner ; the camels were 

 made to lie down, and were securely tied by a rope 

 running from knee to knee over their necks, a method 

 which would absolutely prevent them from getting 

 up and stampeding should they become alarmed. 

 The cattle were led down to the edge of the pool and 

 a zariba erected round them. Half the friendly Somali 



195 



