TRIUMPHANT ARRIVAL AT JALO 103 



piled in a plaited basket. Eggs and tea and sugar 

 followed. We stumbled over our thanks in sheer amaze- 

 ment at their hospitality. "At least not the sheep," I 

 said frantically, probably in English, as no notice was 

 taken. 



When the clamour had died away and the rejoicing 

 Mohammed had piled our rich gifts in every available 

 corner, a small council of war gathered, sitting cross- 

 legged on the largest mat. I was oifered the place of 

 honour, but I felt that refreshment was needed, so Farraj 

 and I made a tiny brush fire in a corner of the court and 

 laboured to make strong sweet coffee. Our baggage was 

 wildly mixed, but the black rose to the occasion. He 

 produced a tin of coffee from somewhere and I broke one 

 of the great square slabs of sugar with a stone. We 

 puffed and blew at the wavering fire till our faces scorched 

 and the water boiled. Mohammed jumped excitedly 

 round, upsetting things and offering impossible sugges- 

 tions, but the coffee, bought at my pet London grocer's, 

 was good, and though there was a deficit of glasses, the 

 guests appreciated it warmly. As I brought in a second 

 relay of cups on a tin plate they formed a favourable 

 impression of the Sitt Khadija and decided that perhaps 

 her mixture of blood was a pity but not a crime ! 



The grave Abdullah joined us, liis keen, pointed face 

 with small dark beard, lean and weather-beaten, burnt 

 almost black in contrast to his thick white burnus. AVe 

 talked of routes. The fat Yusuf naturally wanted to go 

 straight to Kufara by the Wadai caravan route and 

 return the same way. The kaimakaan and two sheikhs, 

 Ibrahim Bishari and Mohammed Maghruf, wished to 

 uphold the honour of the Senussi. Therefore, they 

 assured us that all routes were safe. Abdullah was anxious 

 not to go to Buseima. He said, entirely incorrectly, 

 that a band of Tuaregs dwelt in Ribiana and their whole 



