Ismail, busily searching for his absent porters, heard the shots, and, momentarily desisting from his search, rushed out of camp to see what was the matter. Fifty yards away he saw Barri with uplifted rifle covering the two Somalis, who were cowering behind the bush. If ever I saw murder written on a man’s face, I saw it then on Ismail’s, and remembering what he was capable of, I went after him, followed by El Hakim and George. Ismail was carrying a 12-bore shot-gun loaded with ball cartridges, and as he ran at Barri he unslung the weapon from his shoulder. Barri turned in the nick of time, and without a second’s hesitation fired point-blank at him. Ismail collapsed into a writhing heap on the ground, while Barri turned and fled with the speed of a deer into the surrounding bush. These events happened in such rapid succession that we had no time to interfere and prevent the catastrophe, as we were only just outside the camp when Ismail fell. Of the two Somalis who had brought Barri to bay, one followed him, but, apparently very half-heartedly, he soon returned, and the other ran to assist Ismail. That swashbuckler and would-be assassin had struggled into a sitting position, and was groaning with great vigour, punctuating his howls at intervals with supplications to Allah, mingled with bitter curses on the head of his assailant. We immediately examined him to ascertain the extent of his injuries. He had sustained a nasty flesh-wound on the inside of his right leg a few inches above the ankle. The bullet had cut away the flesh and laid bare the bone, but fortunately had not fractured it. El Hakim dressed and bound the wound, while I superintended the construction of a litter in which Ismail could be conveyed to his own camp. His removal took place soon after midday. El Hakim accompanied him to his camp, and, on arriving there, again dressed the wound, returning to our own camp late in the evening. Ismail’s wound was by no means serious, and would be quite well in a week or so, and as many of his porters had deserted, he seemed inclined to accompany us back to Kenia, and we decided, therefore, to make very short marches for the next few days, primarily in order that Ismail could communicate with us if necessary, and secondly, to gradually accustom the sheep to marching in preparation for their long tramp to Nairobi.