3 02 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 



been so personal myself. The Arab did not seem to think 

 any worse of my kinsman for it, and the camels changed 

 hands at the much improved price of 35 Rs. apiece. 



The ponies were practically given away, and I had no 

 end of a difficulty to unearth a philanthropist willing 

 to board and lodge " Sceptre." We only just got rid 

 of our camels in time ! That very evening the sports- 

 man arrived in Berbera whom we had left cogitating 

 at Aden. His wife was going stronger than ever, and 

 her temper was, if possible, worse. He had not lost 

 her. What a wasted opportunity ! Their caravan 

 had taken a completely different route to ours, having 

 been to the Boorgha country and round by the Bun 

 Feroli. Their trophies were very fine and numerous, 

 and the kindly old shikari showed them to us with 

 great pleasure and pride. He managed to be a sports- 

 man in spite of Madam, not, I am sure, by her aid. 

 She was a Woman's-Righter, and like Sally Brass, a 

 regular one-er. Regardless of the plain fact that we 

 must all be hopelessly ignorant of home affairs, she 

 worried our lives out of an evening to discover our 

 trivial, worthless opinions on all sorts of political 

 questions. It was very amusing to hear Cecily artfully 

 trying to conceal her dense ignorance ; we listened to 

 them one night after dinner, and Madam, who probably 

 knew as little of the subject as her victim, desired to 

 know what Cecily thought of Mr. Chamberlain's 

 fiscal policy. My cousin did not enlarge, so that her 

 lack of knowledge was overwhelmingly apparent. She 

 shook her head solemnly, and said darkly, with grave 

 emphasis, " What indeed ! " 



