21 
TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 
earned the right to a passage at all. The men engaged 
by us to do the transporting of our goods were twins 
to the porters engaged by our friends, the opposition 
shoot. They did not appear to reason out that as the 
mountain of packages had to be got aboard before we 
could sail, it did not matter whose porter carried which 
box of kit. No, each porter must stick to the belong- 
ings of the individual who hired him to do the job. 
Naturally, this caused the wildest confusion, and I sat 
down on a packing case that nobody seemed to care 
much about and laughed and laughed at the idiocy of 
it. To see the leader of the opposition shoot gravely 
detach from my porter a bale of goods to which their 
label was attached, substituting for it a parcel from our 
special heap, was to see a man at the zenith in the way of 
management. 
It was very early, indeed, when we began operations, 
but not so early by the time we sailed, accompanied by 
a rabble of Somalis bent on negotiating the voyage at 
our expense. It was useless to say they could not come 
aboard, because come they would, and the villainous- 
looking skipper seemed to think the more the merrier. 
Our warrior friends were all for turning off the unpay- 
ing guests, but I begged that there should be no more 
delay, and so, when we were loaded up, like a cheap 
tripping steamer to Hampton Court, we sailed. It was 
a truly odious voyage. The wretched little craft rolled 
and tossed to such an extent I thought she really must 
founder. I remember devoutly wishing she would. 
The leader brought out sketching materials, and 
proceeded to make a water-colour sketch of the sea. 
