154 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALI LAND 

 so always to be found in damp green places. I saw a 

 merry little sand-piper in grey, with no tail at all, but 

 wagging as though he had one. He had rather a long 

 beak and was very tame, eating the crumbs I threw 

 him within a yard of my feet. Two birds that looked 

 like sand-grouse crossed to the wells. The whole 

 oasis was a paradise for birds. 



Dik-dik was now our staple food, and very palatable 

 we found it. We had it cooked up every imaginable 

 way. The cook was a sombre individual, but in 

 moments of roasting he could joke with ease. We 

 had but little fat to cook with, as antelope have none 

 on them to speak of. We put our meat on stones in 

 the pot with a little water, and we grilled on a gridiron, 

 or we boiled it. We made bread easily, but as a long 

 course of baking powder is bad for one we made our 

 yeast from hops, of which we had some packets with 

 us. It was much nicer than dough bread, all sour. 



The butler who had lived with the English family 

 had an insinuating smile, and a vocabulary of English 

 words, a moiety of which he had grasped the meaning 

 of. He had no fairy footsteps nor airy nothingness, so 

 valued in an attendant of his variety at home. On the 

 contrary, he hit the ground with heavy beats in planti- 

 grade fashion. 



We felt quite regretful to leave this fairy place and 

 turn back to the blistering hot red sand. But time 

 was flying, and we were rather out of the way of big 

 game here. 



We struck camp and marched, seeing dibitag and 

 oryx, which we vainly stalked, and as we progressed 



