H4 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 
well she did it too, marching up and down with head 
erect and alert eyes. They had not winded us. We 
were covered by fairly dense wait-a-bit. The birds, 
however, were entirely out of range. I was now on 
foot, and flung myself down, as had Clarence. We then 
raised ourselves sufficiently to cut as silently as we could 
a bunch of the awful prickly grass, all mixed with thorn 
spikes, and though it scratched me like fun, and I heard 
my poor garments ripping away, I took the screen from 
Clarence and holding it well in front of me wriggled to 
the edge of the open country in front of me. I did 
feel absurd, and how was I to get within range of those 
knowing birds, all encumbered as I was too, with my 
weapon and my wait-a-bit ? It was wait-a-bit ! I 
took half an hour to crawl a few yards. But the birds 
still went on picking the grass in the peculiar way they 
have, taking turns at sentry-go. They had great doubts 
about this small tuft that had grown up in a day, 
mushroom-like, and it was only when sentry turned 
and paced the other way I could progress at all. The 
bird who was doing the eating did not trouble itself so 
much. At last, wonderful to relate, I really got within 
range, and then it was a toss up which bird to choose. 
I really considered it an embarras de richesse, and told 
myself that both belonged to me ! Sentry presented 
the best mark, and as she turned and came towards me 
I drew a bead on her breast and fired. She fell — 
plop ! But her companion simply took a sort of 
flying run, very quaint to watch, and vanished in the 
instant on the horizon. This is, I know, a prodigious 
fuss about shooting an ostrich ; but I found them 
