CHAPTER II 
IN BERBERA 
All is uneven, 
And everything left at six and seven 
Richard II 
By this time the weekly steamer had sailed to Berbera, 
across the Gulf, but we arranged to paddle our own 
canoes, so to speak, and the two sportsmen, still, I 
suppose, in fear and trembling lest we should clamour 
to form a part of their caravan, went shares with us in 
hiring at an altogether ridiculous sum, almost enough 
to have purchased a ship of our own, a small steamer 
to transport us and our numerous belongings across 
the Gulf. 
Here I may as well say that it is possible for two 
women to successfully carry out a big shoot, for we 
proved it ourselves, but I do not believe it possible for 
them to do it cheaply. I never felt the entire truth of 
the well-known axiom, “ The woman pays,” so com- 
pletely as on this trip. The women paid with a ven- 
geance — twice as much as a man would have done. 
The getting of our things aboard was a scene of 
panic I shall never forget. It was, of anything I have 
ever had to do with, the quaintest and most amusing of 
sights. Each distinct package seemed to fall to the 
ground at least twice before it was considered to have 
