154 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 
so always to be found in damp green places. I saw a 
merry little sand-piper in grey, with no tail at all, but 
wagging as though he had one. He had rather a long 
beak and was very tame, eating the crumbs I threw 
him within a yard of my feet. Two birds that looked 
like sand-grouse crossed to the wells. The whole oasis 
was a paradise for birds. 
Dik-dik was now our staple food, and very palatable 
we found it. We had it cooked up every imaginable 
way. The cook was a sombre individual, but in 
moments of roasting he could joke with ease. We 
had but little fat to cook with, as antelope have none 
on them to speak of. We put our meat on stones in 
the pot with a little water, and we grilled on a gridiron, 
or we boiled it. We made bread easily, but as a long 
course of baking powder is bad for one we made our 
yeast from hops, of which we had some packets with 
us. It was much nicer than dough bread, all sour. 
The butler who had lived with the English family 
had an insinuating smile, and a vocabulary of English 
words, a moiety of which he had grasped the meaning 
of. He had no fairy footsteps nor airy nothingness, 
so valued in an attendant of his variety at home. On 
the contrary, he hit the ground with heavy beats in 
plantigrade fashion. 
We felt quite regretful to leave this fairy place and 
turn back to the blistering hot red sand. But time 
was flying, and we were rather out of the way of big 
game here. 
We struck camp and marched, seeing dibitag and 
oryx, which we vainly stalked, and as we progressed 
