. ;., 



TWO DIANAS IN 

 SOMALILAND 



CHAPTER I 



WE SET OUT FOR SOMALILAND 



This weaves itself perforce into my business 



King Lear 



It is not that I imagine the world is panting for another 

 tale about a shoot. I am aware that of the making of 

 sporting books there is no end. Simply — I want to 

 write. And in this unassuming record of a big shoot, 

 engineered and successfully carried through by two 

 women, there may be something of interest ; it is 

 surely worth more than a slight endeavour to engage 

 the even passing interest of one person of average 

 intelligence in these days of universal boredom. 



I don't know whether the idea of our big shoot first 

 emanated from my cousin or myself. I was not exactly 

 a tenderfoot, neither was she. We had both been an 

 expedition to the Rockies at a time when big game 

 there was not so hard to find, but yet less easy to get 

 at. We did not go to the Rockies with the idea of 

 shooting, our sole raison d'etre being to show the 

 heathen Chinee how not to cook ; but incidentally the 

 charm of the chase captured us, and we exchanged the 



A 



