Our Abban's heroism now became infectious. Even the End of Time,
whose hot valour had long since fallen below zero, was inspired by the
occasion, and recited, as usual with him in places and at times of extreme
safety, the Arabs' warrior lines--
"I have crossed the steed since my eyes saw light,
I have fronted death till he feared my sight,
And the cleaving of helm, and the riving of mail
Were the dreams of my youth,--are my manhood's delight."
As we had finished loading, a mule's bridle was missed. Sherwa ordered
instant restitution to his father's stranger, on the ground that all the
property now belonged to the Gerad; and we, by no means idle, fiercely
threatened to bewitch the kraal. The article was presently found hard by,
on a hedge. This was the first and last case of theft which occurred to us
in the Somali country;--I have travelled through most civilised lands, and
have lost more.
At 8 A.M. we marched towards the north-west, along the southern base of
the Gurays hills, and soon arrived at the skirt of the prairie, where a
well-trodden path warned us that we were about to quit the desert.
