Page:First Footsteps in East Africa, 1894 - Volume 1.djvu/202

 frequent cry of the Gobiyan and the bird facetiously termed from its cry "Dobo-dogon- guswen," and the bright-coloured hawk, the Abodi or Bakiyyah [29], lay on wing high in the cloudless air. When tired of killing we returned to our cow-hides, and sat in conversation with the Bedouins. They boasted of the skill with which they used the shield, and seemed not to understand the efficiency of a sword- parry: to illustrate the novel idea I gave a stick to the best man, provided myself in the same way, and allowed him to cut at me. After repeated failures he received a sounding blow upon the least bony portion of his person: the crowd laughed long and loud, and the pretending "knight-at-arms" retired in confusion. Darkness fell, but no caravan appeared: it had been delayed by a runaway mule,--perhaps by the desire to restrain my vagrant propensities,--and did not arrive till midnight. My hosts cleared a Gurgi for our reception, brought us milk, and extended their hospitality to the full limits of even savage complaisance. Expecting to march on the 13th December soon after dawn, I summoned Beuh and his brethren to the hut, reminding him that the Hajj had promised me an escort without delay to the village of the Gerad Adan. To my instances they replied that, although they were most