242 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 



location — and he bewailed his misfortune. I ordered 

 him to go home to camp and leave me, which he did 

 with alacrity. After about half an hour my trembling 

 fit passed. It was very cowardly to be so upset, but 

 I hate unknown and quite unforeseen dangers, and 

 an unsuspected bullet at close quarters demoralises 

 me. 



I sat on quietly, and the bush began to stir and 

 take up its daily round again, forgetting the demon 

 crash that had disturbed its slumbers. A little red 

 velveteen spider ran speedily up an armo leaf, tumbled 

 over the edge and suspended himself on a golden wire. 

 Jerk ! jerk ! Lower he went, then up again. Two 

 bars of his house completed, when alas, a great fly 

 of the species that haunted our trophies, flew right 

 across and smashed the spider-house to nothing. The 

 velveteen spider sat on a leaf — fortunately he had 

 made safety ere the Juggernaut passed along — and 

 meditated, but only for a moment. He was a philo- 

 sopher and knew all about the " Try, try, try again " 

 axiom. Over he hurled himself on another golden 

 thread and laid another criss-cross foundation-stone. 

 And there I left him because I wanted to penetrate 

 farther. 



How could I manoeuvre a big antelope now if I 

 shot one, seeing that my hunter had left me ? Was 

 it not counting my chickens ? Yes, but that is what 

 one does all the time in big game shooting ! 



In one bit of glade I worked my way through the 

 caterpillars had played devastator ; every leaf was 

 eaten. I hurried on. I rested again on a fallen 



