TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 301 



avoided ? Here it was again, a mass of flies and 

 fermentation, singing away to itself in a little dish. 



After dinner we sat outside the bungalow fighting 

 battles o'er again, and regretting, oh, with such an 

 ache of longing, the jungle and the wild. That night 

 we hardly slept at all. We missed the camp sounds, 

 the grunting camels, the sound of the fires being piled, 

 we missed the open — all ! We stretched out longing 

 arms and touched a wall ! We paced a floor that was 

 not ground. 



Everything in the world comes to an end. How 

 sad that is sometimes ! How we longed to turn the 

 hands of the clock back, and Time with it ! 



Next day we joined our camp again, and began to 

 make arrangements for its disbandment. We had 

 come in at a bad time — camels being a drug in the 

 market. The leader and Ralph disposed of theirs 

 by public auction, but there could not be much of a 

 demand for any more at this time of the year. Our 

 beasts were in a very fair condition, all things con- 

 sidered, but we had great difficulty in getting rid of 

 them. At last Clarence produced a dirty old Arab, 

 whose appearance gave one the idea he had no means 

 whatever, but of course this is not peculiar to Arabs, 

 for some of our home millionaires are afflicted in the 

 same way. The old gentleman bargained and bargained 

 until I almost let the creatures go at 30 Rs. apiece, 

 but Ralph arrived at the crucial moment and put a 

 different complexion on the matter. He rushed into 

 the discussion with vigour, and called the offer piracy, 

 robbery, and things of that sort. I never could have 



