TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 
173 
sahibs. She stayed at home, and we — “ We scour the 
plain,” put in Cecily. 
It was all very absurd, and as we were for the time 
being perfectly impotent, however much we might 
bluster, we provisionally pardoned him on condition 
that he returned to butler’s duty, and henceforth 
spelt it with a capital D. 
“ Oh, frabjous day ! Calloo ! Callay ! ” 
Our men reported that the lion-— presumably the 
same lion — had returned to his kill, and was now lying 
up in the bushes watching the meat. Our tempers 
had recovered their balance, and we happily set out, 
Clarence promising that we should “ paint um day 
red.” His vocabulary was varied enough to amuse us, 
and what little English he was absolute master of was 
interspersed with the quaintest idioms of Hindostanee 
and American, which he would bring out in whole 
representative sentences. His last big “ shikar ” was 
with an American magnate who wanted, said Clarence, 
to “ shoot um libbah before um died.” Whether it 
was to be before the lion died or the sportsman 
seemed a bit involved, though as it was obvious that 
the sportsman could not very well go shooting after 
crossing the “ Great Divide,” the demise of the lion 
must have been referred to. It certainly was more 
sporting to wish to shoot at the animal before it 
expired than after. 
It was the oddest thing in the world to hear that 
Americanism of “ Painting the town red ” on the lips 
of the solemn Somali. Did he wonder at its origin as 
I did ? I remember hearing it for the first time in a 
