CHAPTER II 



IN BERBERA 



All is uneven, 

 And everything left at six and seven 



Richard II 



By this time the weekly steamer had sailed to Berbera, 

 across the Gulf, but we arranged to paddle our own 

 canoes, so to speak, and the two sportsmen, still, I 

 suppose, in fear and trembling lest we should clamour 

 to form a part of their caravan, went shares with us in 

 hiring at an altogether ridiculous sum, almost enough 

 to have purchased a ship of our own, a small steamer 

 to transport us and our numerous belongings across 

 the Gulf. 



Here I may as well say that it is possible for two 

 women to successfully carry out a big shoot, for we 

 proved it ourselves, but I do not believe it possible for 

 them to do it cheaply. I never felt the entire truth of 

 the well-known axiom, " The woman pays," so com- 

 pletely as on this trip. The women paid with a ven- 

 geance — twice as much as a man would have done. 



The getting of our things aboard was a scene of 

 panic I shall never forget. It was, of anything I have 

 ever had to do with, the quaintest and most amusing of 

 sights. Each distinct package seemed to fall to the 

 ground at least twice before it was considered to have 





