II 
TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 
whole ship was in complete silence when the most 
awful shrieks rent the air. Most of the inhabitants of 
my corridor turned out, and all made their way to the 
ladies’ cabin, which seemed the centre of the noise. 
There we found the ridiculous Mrs. R. alone, and in 
hysterics. After a little, we could see for ourselves 
there was nothing much the matter. She gasped out 
that she had evicted the stewardess, and was just 
falling off to sleep when a tall figure appeared by the 
berth, clad in pale blue pyjamas — it seemed to vex her 
so that it was pale blue, and for the life of me I could 
not see why they were any worse than dark red — 
and calling her “ Mabel, darling ! ” embraced her 
rapturously. 
“ And you know,” said Mrs. R. plaintively, “ my 
name is not Mabel ! It is Maud.” 
In the uproar the intruder had of course escaped, 
but Mrs. R. unhesitatingly proclaimed him to be 
Captain H., the officer whom I had noticed at first. 
We discovered the stewardess sleeping peacefully, or 
making a very good imitation of it, and she was 
wakened up and again dislodged, whilst Mrs. R. 
prepared to put up with the wailing baby for the 
remains of the night. 
Next morning the captain of the ship interviewed 
the warrior, who absolutely denied having been any- 
where near the ladies’ cabin at the time mentioned, 
and aided by a youthful subaltern, who perjured 
himself like a man, proved a most convincing alibi. 
Matters went on until one day on deck Captain H. 
walked up to Mrs. R. and reproached her for saying 
