222 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 
and it came out at a shade over eleven inches, and the 
extended wings topped eight and a half feet. 
We were now on the march through a waterless 
tract again, but game was once more plentiful, and 
the men dined royally every day. We not so magnifi- 
cently, as a whole boxful of our provisions had 
mysteriously disappeared ; the camel-man in charge 
said lost, but looted or sold really. I kicked up a 
frightful fuss, but of course that did not bring back 
the missing necessaries. The loss of the box meant 
much carefulness to us, as it would certainly be five 
weeks or more before we touched Berbera, a con- 
summation not wished for at all, and even the idea 
was a vast regret to us. To think that in a short 
space of time we should be in touch with the world 
again, that the wild would call, and we, all an ache of 
desperate longing, could not reply ! There would be 
nothing to compensate us for the loss of the joys of the 
jungle, no music like unto the lion’s roar. We should 
listen in vain for the whining bark of the koodoo, and 
the weird calls of the wrangling hyaenas prowling 
around our zareba o’ nights would echo only in 
memory. To us these things were the heart of happi- 
ness, and to dream of leaving them was pain. 
Ah me ! Well, “ fill the cup.” 
Cecily bagged an oryx near Well-Wall, a fine female, 
ever the best fitted out in the horn line among this 
species. It is strange this should be so, when the bulls 
are so pugnacious, The horns of this trophy were in 
perfect condition, and measured thirty-two inches. 
The bird life around us charmed us exceedingly. I 
