Related article: Ah I faithful companion, in vain you may listen,
You will ne'er catch the sound of that footstep again.
His guns in their places stand rusting together,
No longer resounding through wood, field, and dell.
While the wily old pheasant in peace plumes his feather,
Remembering the days when the rocketers fell.
In vain by a sale a fresh owner you find them ;
To pick out his shots, or blaze into the brown,
There's no longer his eye, or his shoulder behind them,
And the swift-driven partridge has failed to come down.
In the stable the old horse stands fretting and idle.
No more to the front like a wild stag he bounds.
How he longs once again to don saddle and bridle,
And carry his Master right up to the hounds !
In vain ! — ah ! in vain you may fill up his manger.
Ply the spur in the run till its rowels be red ;
He refuses to feed from the hand of a stranger,
Has turned from the yawner the first time his head.
No more from the woodland his view-holloa pealing
Lets us know that the rover has left it at last ;
In vain in the open, *' across the grass stealing,"
We strive to o'ertake him, ride ever so fast.
As brave as he traversed the fair Red Horse Valley
With his kind word for all, and his bright cheery smile>
He has crossed the dark valley — but ah I we can't dally,
We must ride on without him — 'tis but for a while.
You may put by that rod — the brave fish from the ocean
To the pools of Blackwater in safety may leap,
And safe from his long Rifle's death-dealing potion
The stag in the distant, lone, corrie may sleep.
Why, there's his old bat : how well he could wield it !
Let's see the inscription, "one hundred,. not out " —
It shall stand in the mess-room : a glass case shall shield it^
To 'mind us how often it bafHed a rout —
Shall I burnish his pistols ? he never will need them,
You may hang up his belt, put his helm on the shelf,
For his men may look now for another to lead them,
And his good sword none other shall draw but himself.
448
baily's magazink-
u
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In the stern press of conflict, the hour of disaster.
When the bullets are falling like torrents of rain.
While the foe on the flank gathers thicker and faster.
They will look for his cheer and his raJJy in vain.
On the morrow, my lad, you may sound the reveUU,
It won't rouse him up, Pentasa Hair Loss though it ring all around ;
The roar of the battle, the crash of the mtlee^
E*en these would not wake him, his sleep is so sound.
Is that his own Prayer Book, Pentasa 500mg Tablets take care you don't Jose it.
He ne'er was ashamed of his Faith and his Pentasa Canada \^^m^ ;
It will comfort his Mother a short time to use it.
Till they meet once again in the country above.
Rec. Wvverne.
A Night in a Somali Karia.*
When shooting in Somaliland
some years ago I found myself one
night amongst the Habr Awal
tribe of the Ishak group of So-
malis ; the rain was descending in
torrents, whilst every minute the
darkness became more intense. I
had lost my caravan, which meant
no supper, and this, added to the
fact that lions infested the neigh-
bourhood, made up the prospect
of an unpleasant night, when sud-
denly as if by magic some dusky
forms appeared and I found my-
self surrounded by a party of Habr
Awal armed as usual with shield
and spears. My reception was
most friendly, but whether due to
my rifle or to the friendship exist-
ing between the British and So-
malis before such a large slice of
their country was handed over to
their relentless Abyssinian foes, I
cannot say.
Wet to the skin, I was glad to
* A karia is a portable but. made of mats
tbrown over long pliant rods, eacn of which is bent
over and the ends stuck in the ground.
be conducted to their zariba* near
by, hoping to exchange my soakii^
clothes for a tobe,f but the karia
into which I was led was fuli of
women and children, so I could
not effiect the exchange tiJl tbey
cleared out, which was evidently
far from their intentions. With
shrill peals of laughter evident]/
at my expense, and sly nudges
amongst themselves they sur-
rounded me, which was em-
barrassing to a shy man. A
smouldering fire in the centre
of the hut was rekindled for
my benefit, and I was soon
hidden by the smoke and the
steam from wet clothes, under
cover of which I exchanged my
shirt for a tobe. The Somali
women, restless and fond of change
like their European sisters, soon .
departed, to my no small satisfac-
* A sariba is a hedge of thorny bashes Pentasa 250 Mg so iro u ad-
ing the karia^ as a protection from wild beasts,
T A tobe IS the usual ctre>s of a Somali, sod
consists of a cotton sheeting about foozteaifeet
long, worn so as to cover the whole body and
legs.
190I.]
A NIGHT IN A SOMALI KARIA.
449
tion, followed by their queer little
cliildren, who never seem quite
childlike, as they begin to shift for
themselves when too big to be car-
ried slung on their mother's back.
Having posted my Midgan* ser-
vant, with my rifle, to guard the
hut entrance, I fell asleep, but was
soon awakened by a Somali bear-
ing kasurast of camels' milk, which
Ave quickly disposed of, not having
eaten since our morning meal.
The milk, which tasted smoky,
allayed hunger and thirst, but was
as hard to digest as a lobster sup-
per, and combined with the insect
life of the karia to drive away
sleep. Judging by the various
sounds near me, the zariba con-
tained the usual Somali animals.
I heard camels gurgling, and after
a hyena had uttered his dismal
howls from a distance he grew
bolder and a stampede of goats to
the further corner of their pen
showed that he was not far off.
Sleep at last overtook me, and
when I awoke the sun was just