TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND n 



whole ship was in complete silence when the most 

 awful shrieks rent the air. Most of the inhabitants of 

 my corridor turned out, and all made their way to the 

 ladies' cabin, which seemed the centre of the noise. 

 There we found the ridiculous Mrs. R. alone, and in 

 hysterics. After a little, we could see for ourselves 

 there was nothing much the matter. She gasped out 

 that she had evicted the stewardess, and was just 

 falling off to sleep when a tall figure appeared by the 

 berth, clad in pale blue pyjamas — it seemed to vex her 

 so that it was pale blue, and for the life of me I could 

 not see why they were any worse than dark red — 

 and calling her "Mabel, darling!" embraced her 

 rapturously. 



"And you know," said Mrs. R. plaintively, "my 

 name is not Mabel 1 It is Maud." 



In the uproar the intruder had of course escaped, 

 but Mrs. R. unhesitatingly proclaimed him to be 

 Captain H., the officer whom I had noticed at first. 

 We discovered the stewardess sleeping peacefully, or 

 making a very good imitation of it, and she was 

 wakened up and again dislodged, whilst Mrs. R. 

 prepared to put up with the wailing baby for the 

 remains of the night. 



Next morning the captain of the ship interviewed 

 the warrior, who absolutely denied having been any- 

 where near the ladies' cabin at the time mentioned, 

 and aided by a youthful subaltern, who perjured him- 

 self like a man, proved a most convincing alibi. 

 Matters went on until one day on deck Captain H. 

 walked up to Mrs. R. and reproached her for saying 



