We had already retired for the night, but we donned our clothes and went over to the Somali camp to see Ismail. The Somali camp was in a great state of excitement. Ismail himself was serving out ammunition to his men with a lavish hand, and others of the Somalis were cutting bush and otherwise strengthening the boma. We did not quite believe their story, but as it would do no harm to take ordinary precautions, we returned to our own camp and proceeded to put it into a state of defence. It was already well protected on two sides by a thick belt of bush, so thickly interlaced as to be impenetrable, and by a large fallen thorn tree, which, while easily seen through, formed a barrier as impassable to naked savages as a barbed wire entanglement. More thorn-bush was cut down and a strong barrier erected on the river side. On the opposite side, where the men’s tents were situated, we built another thorn fence, leaving the tents outside with the fires burning as usual, in the hope that in the event of hostilities the apparently unprotected tents would draw the first attack. We did not think that the enemy would feel inclined to make a second. The men all slept under arms in the centre of our boma, with the exception of the sentries, whom we posted some distance outside the camp. The 8-bore, loaded with slugs, was placed handy, together with half a dozen of the blue flares, which would instantly light up the scene for a hundred yards round with an intense radiance as awe-inspiring to the enemy as it would be useful to ourselves. When our defensive preparations were completed we retired fully dressed to our blankets, and endeavoured to snatch a little sleep, with such success that we did not wake till sunrise. We temporarily demolished the “boma” on the side on which the men’s tents stood, so that we should not give our scheme away should we be visited during the day by any of the Burkeneji, as, for all we knew, it might yet prove useful. The Burkeneji were undoubtedly restless, as we found that they were moving their villages _down_ the river again, some of them going as far as the eastern spur of the Zambo Plateau. The next night we took the same precautions as on the previous evening, but still nothing happened. On September 20th we had finally disposed of all our stock, and were now quite ready to leave for M’thara. Ismail informed us that he was going north to Marsabit, and bade us good-bye.