234 TWO DIANAS IN SOMALILAND 
The men returned to say the skin of the rhino was 
not to be found. I don’t suppose they had even been 
to the spot. I am confident they had, in some mys- 
terious way, managed to let their friends know a 
wealth of shields were to be had for the taking. There 
was nothing left of our huge friend of the day before, 
so the men said. Wild beasts had eaten him. 
Later, I heard a great shouting in camp, and calls for 
us, and answering in person, I saw Clarence seated on 
a pony, proudly displaying and offering to me a 
baby oryx, which he had in front of him. We lifted 
the mite down, holding it, all struggling, firmly. It 
was terror-stricken, poor wee thing. I tried to stroke 
its satin coat, but it only started and looked at me 
with frightened piteous beseeching eyes. Clarence 
meant well, but oh, I would a thousand times he had 
left the kid with its mother. And then a thought 
struck me. How had he come by this fleet thing ? 
May be killed the doe and then ridden the baby down. 
Instantly I put it to him. I know I frowned. But 
he disarmed me by saying the matter was not as I 
thought, and the mother was alive, unharmed ; that 
he had ridden them down until the little oryx, spent, 
had to drop, and the mother fled away in fear before 
his threatening gestures. 
I consulted with Cecily, and we came to the con- 
clusion that if we wanted to please Clarence there 
was nothing for it but to keep the buck, but after 
mixing it some condensed milk, which we gave it in 
a bottle with a bit of rubber tubing on the neck, we 
realised that to retain our little guest meant our going 
