unloaded and turned out to graze, and the lariats of the mules, who are
addicted to running away, were fastened to stones for want of pegs [13].
Then, lighting a fire, we sat down to a homely supper of dates.

The air was fresh and clear; and the night breeze was delicious after the
steamy breath of day. The weary confinement of walls made the splendid
expanse a luxury to the sight, whilst the tumbling of the surf upon the
near shore, and the music of the jackal, predisposed to sweet sleep. We
now felt that at length the die was cast. Placing my pistols by my side,
with my rifle butt for a pillow, and its barrel as a bed-fellow, I sought
repose with none of that apprehension which even the most stout-hearted
traveller knows before the start. It is the difference between fancy and
reality, between anxiety and certainty: to men gifted with any imaginative
powers the anticipation must ever be worse than the event. Thus it
happens, that he who feels a thrill of fear before engaging in a peril,
exchanges it for a throb of exultation when he finds himself hand to hand
with the danger.

The "End of Time" volunteered to keep watch that night. When the early
dawn glimmered he aroused us, and blew up the smouldering fire, whilst our
women proceeded to load the camels. We pursued our way over hard alluvial
soil to sand, and thence passed into a growth of stiff yellow grass not
unlike a stubble in English September. Day broke upon a Somali Arcadia,
whose sole flaws were salt water and Simum. Whistling shepherds [14]
carried in their arms the younglings of the herds, or, spear in hand,
drove to pasture long regular lines of camels, that waved their vulture-
like heads, and arched their necks to bite in play their neighbours'
faces, humps, and hind thighs. They were led by a patriarch, to whose
throat hung a Kor or wooden bell, the preventive for straggling; and most
of them were followed (for winter is the breeding season) by colts in