i 4 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALI LAND 



for the proprieties ! This good lady markedly and 

 ostentatiously cut the disgraced warrior, who was her 

 vis-a-vis at table, and when I asked her why she con- 

 sidered a man guilty of anything until he had been 

 proved beyond doubt to merit cutting, she looked at 

 me with a supercilious eyebrow raised, and a world of 

 pity for my ignorance in her tone as she answered 

 firmly : " I must have the moral courage necessary to 

 cut an acquaintance lacking principle." 



H Wouldn't it be infinitely more courageous to stick 

 to one ? " I said, and left her. 



We had a very narrow little padre on board too, 

 going out to take on some church billet Mussoorie 

 way. He was bent on collecting, from all of us who 

 were powerless to evade him, enough money to set up 

 a screen of sorts in his new tabernacle. Although he 

 did not approve of the sweepstakes on the day's run, 

 he sacrificed his feeling sufficiently to accept a free 

 share, and would ask us for subscriptions besides, as 

 we lounged about the deck individually or in small 

 groups, always opening the ball by asking our value- 

 less opinions as to the most suitable subject — biblical, 

 of course — for illustration. He came to me one day 

 and asked me what I thought about the matter. Did 

 I think Moses with his mother would make a good 

 picture for a screen ? I had no views at all, so had 

 to speedily manufacture some. I gave it as my 

 opinion that if a screen picture were a necessity Moses 

 would certainly do as well as anybody else — in fact 

 better. For, after all, Moses was the greatest leader of 

 men the world has ever known. He engineered an 



