CHAP. XXXII A HERD OF /BEX 369 



lay on a spur of rock which commanded a good view of 

 the valley, but, faiHng to see any game, I began to work 

 back, and at length discovered a herd of fifteen does and 

 a good-sized buck feeding in a narrow dell below. 

 After a little while 1 also made out the larger of the two 

 we had seen in the morning, and as there appeared to be 

 no possible means of approach, tried a long shot, which 

 did no damage except scattering the herd. Immediately 

 after this the clouds rolled up, blotting out the valley, 

 and enveloping us in mist. The march back to camp 

 against a cutting wind and driving sleet lasted two hours, 

 and made my Somalis shake with cold. Ne.xt morning 

 the hill-tops were white with snow, and the lowering 

 clouds still clung to them, when I began searching 

 yesterday's ground with the telescope, and soon found 

 the herd in the valley ne.xt to the one where I had fired. 

 After a while the Shum and his followers came ujj, and 

 I questioned them about the place they had told me of 

 as being a short day's march from here towards Adua, 

 and where, they alleged, there were many more wala. 

 To my surprise they now denied all knowledge of the 

 ground, declaring that the villagers there would not obev 

 this headman, that their own Shum was absent, that the 

 place had been lately driven with a lot of dogs for a big 

 Shum, who had shot all the wala, and, in fact, that the 

 only available sporting ground was the one which I had 

 been over. .So I scribbled a note to the Balambaras, 

 desiring him to send fresh orders, which being despatched 

 we (the guide, Ali, Hyde, and myself) started down a 

 fairly good path, passing numerous flocks of sheep and 

 goats just releasetl from their pens, which are merely 



2 B 



