36 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 
big game shooting. We also resolved to share a tent 
for safety’s sake, but after a little, when we had begun 
to understand there was nothing on earth to be afraid 
of, we 44 chucked ” this uncomfortable plan and sported 
a tent apiece. 
On clear nights I always left the flap of the tent open. 
I loved to see the wonderful blue of the sky, so remi- 
niscent of the chromo-lithograph pictures admired so 
greatly in childhood’s days. And I would try and 
count the myriad stars, and trace a path down the 
Milky Way. How glorious it was, that first waking in 
the early, early morning with dark shadows lurking 
around, the embers of the fires glowing dully and — 
just here — a faint breeze blowing in with messages 
from the distant sea. 
The long string of grunting camels ahead looked 
like some pantomime snake of colossal proportions as 
it wriggled its way through the low thorn bushes 
which, here and there, grew stunted and forlorn ; 
camels move with such an undulating gait, and the 
loads I had trembled about seemed to be a mere 
bagatelle. 
All too soon came the day, and, with the day, the sun 
in fiery splendour, which speedily reduced us both to 
the condition of Mr. Mantalini’s expressive description 
of 44 demn’d, damp, unpleasant bodies.” The glitter 
from the sand made us blink at first, but, like every- 
thing else, we got perfectly inured to it, and dark 
days or wet seemed the darker for its loss. 
Jerk ! And all the camels stopped and bumped into 
each other, like a train of loaded trucks after a push 
