TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 81 
through his rattling me so — missed ignominiously, he 
whispered to himself, with a whole world of resigna- 
tion in his tone, “ Mem-sahib no shoot, Mem-sahib 
no shoot ! ” 
Mem-sahib turned round and gave the idiot a bit of 
her mind. I had had enough of being hurried and 
flurried by his ways. I learned early on to take no 
notice of my shikari. Clarence never made the 
egregious mistake of obtruding himself. Some of the 
others were not so cautious, and were very quick with 
their ideas and remarks. It is very easy to rattle a 
person after a tiring crawl, and throw the whole 
scheme out of gear to fall about your ears like an 
evanescent card-house. One asks time to recover 
breath and balance, taking one’s own way. Then on 
occasion it is necessary to shoot from all sorts of 
positions, and it is disconcerting to have any one 
commenting. I prefer to be able to sit down fair and 
square so that both knees may be elbow rests ; but, 
alas, not often the opportunity is given in big game 
shooting to choose your position. You seize the 
moment, and the moment may find you placed very 
awkwardly. 
We were now again in the most wonderful region 
for game that the heart of the most grasping sportsman 
could desire. Herds of buck were met with on every 
march we made, and galloping forms were outlined on 
every horizon. If there were more aoul to be seen in the 
early days of the discovery of Somaliland as a Land 
of Promise for the hunter, I do not know how the 
ground supported them. If the larger and more 
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