102 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 
of a whole flight were in evidence all over the glossy 
coat. Some Midgans hunting without dogs had missed 
their quarry somehow. Cecily had put the big bull 
out of his pain, and there we were with an emharras de 
yichesse miles from camp and a] one. The oryx had 
very finely turned horns, and it seemed a sin to waste 
them. We set off to decapitate him with the only 
implement we had, a very small shikar knife. It took 
a long time in the doing, and we were so hot and tired 
and sick by the end of the performance, I thought we 
must be struck with the sun. The water in our bottles 
was quite hot. 
The instant we left the carcase of the oryx the 
vultures came from all sides, hanging over it with legs 
poised to alight, screaming as they flapped along the 
ground and settled on the bushes around. We took it 
in turns to ride the spare pony ; the other was a beast 
of burden for our spoils. A flock of quail ran ahead 
and disappeared beneath the khansa. The walking 
one walked, and the riding one rode, and at last we 
had to take our coats off. The heat grew insufferable, 
the sun blazed a-shimmer through the purple-blue 
coverlet of the sky. Even the sun loving sun-birds 
kept in the shade of the bushes. My rifle — best of 
playthings — took on a pound or two in weight. 
Cecily wears perpetually a single-stone diamond 
ring, given her by a friend now in Purgatory, if every- 
one gets their deserts, as we are told is the invariable 
rule. The sun danced on the exquisite stone, and as 
she moved her hand a glinting light flickered from it 
on the sand here and there, like a will-o’-the-wisp. 
