TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 173 



She stayed at home, and we — "We scour the plain," 

 put in Cecily. 



It was all very absurd, and as we were for the time 

 being perfectly impotent, however much we might 

 bluster, we provisionally pardoned him on condition 

 that he returned to butler's duty, and henceforth spelt 

 it with a capital D. 



"Oh, frabjous day ! Calloo ! Callay ! " 



Our men reported that the lion — presumably the 

 same lion — had returned to his kill, and was now lying 

 up in the bushes watching the meat. Our tempers 

 had recovered their balance, and we happily set out, 

 Clarence promising that we should " paint um day 

 red." His vocabulary was varied enough to amuse us, 

 and what little English he was absolute master of was 

 interspersed with the quaintest idioms of Hindostanee 

 and American, which he would bring out in whole 

 representative sentences. His last big "shikar" was 

 with an American magnate who wanted, said Clarence, 

 to "shoot um libbah before um died." Whether it 

 was to be before the lion died or the sportsman 

 seemed a bit involved, though as it was obvious that 

 the sportsman could not very well go shooting after 

 crossing the " Great Divide," the demise of the lion 

 must have been referred to. It certainly was more 

 sporting to wish to shoot at the animal before it 

 expired than after. 



It was the oddest thing in the world to hear that 

 Americanism of " Painting the town red" on the lips 

 of the solemn Somali. Did he wonder at its origin as 

 I did ? I remember hearing it for the first time in a 



