VIII 



TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA 



329 



The men who had been washing the donkey saddles 

 said they had not noticed the approach of the Ren- 

 dile, until they were almost upon them; and that 

 from the movements of these people they did not for 

 a moment think they had come on a peaceful mission. 

 I shared their opinion. The two Somali who were 

 with me grinned with excitement and glee, and said : 

 " Now, master, Allah has delivered these people with 

 horses and camels into our hands. Now let us seize 

 them. They are enemies, and they belong to us. We 

 know that the vv^hite man does not wage war for the 

 sake of plunder ; but let us, the Somali, go with a 

 few men we will select, and in a few moments you 

 will have horses to ride, and camels to carry your 

 goods " 



The temptation to yield was, I must admit, next to 

 irresistible ; but as the people concealed among the 

 trees made no overt attack upon us, and as the horse- 

 men continued to shout in the most eager manner, 

 " Serian ! Serian ! " I could not permit myself to in- 

 dulge in the pleasure of an attack. 



The three horsemen were men whom we had 

 noticed as followers of Lokomogul. They said that 

 their chief very much regretted we had left his coun- 

 try without permitting him to say farewell to us ; and 

 that they had come out of their way while on the 

 giraffe hunt to bear us this message. One of them 

 eagerly pointed over his shoulder, and said rapidly, 

 " Rhinoceros ! Rhinoceros ! " This at first conveyed 

 nothing to our minds; but upon following them to 

 a distance, we found stretched on the ground the 

 rhinoceros I had wounded. The sight of this animal 



