136 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 



unless they were as signally favoured as ourselves ? 

 I suggested that they might be, because we did not 

 surely suppose we were the only people with relatives 

 able to pull the strings. We were both a bit " shirty " 

 because we were vexed to know we had not got the 

 Ogaden to ourselves. A nice sporting spirit, wasn't it ? 



We were at lunch, battling with an altogether impos- 

 sible curry Cecily had perpetrated, for she always said 

 you can curry anything, even old boots, at a push, and 

 they would be rendered appetising. Oryx beat her 

 efforts culinary, and she had to admit at last that curry 

 powder and oryx meat should be strangers. 



As she had had all the trouble of stirring the concoc- 

 tion over a grilling fire on a grilling day I struggled on 

 as long as I possibly could in order that the amateur 

 chef's feelings should not ;be hurt, but confessed 

 myself beaten in the end and very hungry, so we fell 

 to opening a tin of meat. 



" I fear no beef that's canned by Armour," sang 

 Cecily, coming events not having cast any shadows 

 before. 



" Salaam, ladies ! " said an English voice close at 

 hand. 



It was the leader of the opposition shoot. The 

 younger, my kinsman, was quarrelling with a syce 

 about the proper way to hold a pony. I don't know if 

 we were glad to see them or not. Anyway we had to 

 pretend to be, besides making the usual ridiculous 

 remarks about the smallness of the world, and how 

 odd it was we should have come across each other 

 again. 



