TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 81 



through his rattling me so — missed ignominiously, he 

 whispered to himself, with a whole world of resigna- 

 tion in his tone, " Mem-sahib no shoot, Mem-sahib no 

 shoot ! " 



Mem-sahib turned round and gave the idiot a bit of 

 her mind. I had had enough of being hurried and 

 flurried by his ways. I learned early on to take no 

 notice of my shikari. Clarence never made the 

 egregious mistake of obtruding himself. Some of the 

 others were not so cautious, and were very quick with 

 their ideas and remarks. It is very easy to rattle a 

 person after a tiring crawl, and throw the whole 

 scheme out of gear to fall about your ears like an 

 evanescent card-house. One asks time to recover 

 breath and balance, taking one's own way. Then on 

 occasion it is necessary to shoot from all sorts of 

 positions, and it is disconcerting to have any one com- 

 menting. I prefer to be able to sit down fair and 

 square so that both knees may be elbow rests ; but, 

 alas, not often the opportunity is given in big game 

 shooting to choose your position. You seize the 

 moment, and the moment may find you placed very 

 awkwardly. 



We were now again in the most wonderful region 

 for game that the heart of the most grasping sportsman 

 could desire. Herds of buck were met with on every 

 march we made, and galloping forms were outlined on 

 every horizon. If there were more aoul to be seen in the 

 early days of the discovery of Somaliland as a Land of 

 Promise for the hunter, I do not know how the ground 

 supported them. If the larger and more dangerous 



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