34 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 
stranded. They resided in a tin by my bedside. 
Kismet overtook him, and his nose was in the jaws of 
a gin. He was killed instant er, and the cat dropped 
in to breakfast. 
I helped her to him. 
She commenced on his head, and finished with his 
tail, a sort of cheese straw. This is curious, because 
a lion, which is also a cat, begins at the other end. 
Domesticity reverses the order of a good many things. 
He left no trace behind him. Unknown (except 
to me) he lived, and uncofiined (unless a cat may be 
called a coffin) he died. By the way, he was a rat. 
One afternoon Cecily and I walked along the sea 
coast at Berbera, and came on the most remarkable 
fish, jumping into the sea from the sandy shore. I 
asked a resident about this, and he said the fish is 
called “ mud-skipper ” — a name that seems to have 
more point about it than most. 
So, at last, we reached the day fixed for the starting 
of the great trek. 
