UNEXPECTED VISITORS. 171 



About 1 A.M., when the camp fire was 

 dying out and our sleep was at its soundest, 

 a party of shepherds from Gebi arrived on the 

 scene, and with that glorious want of cere- 

 mony that characterises their race, woke us out 

 of our slumbers and re-lit the fire. All they 

 wanted, good simple souls, was a chat, and it 

 never occurred to them that we should not 

 see things from their point of view. It is no 

 good getting in a rage when you can't make 

 yourself understood, so I made the best of it, 

 and I was rewarded for my forbearance by 

 bemg allowed to go to sleep agam m about 

 half an hour's time. 



The last I saw of them was a glimpse 

 of five or six forms in sheepskins squatting 

 round the fire and smoking, without appa- 

 rently any idea of going to sleep that night. 

 Next morning, though I was up by daylight, 

 shepherds and flocks had gone, and left no 

 trace behind them. 



