Ismail Robli was a short stout man with a shifty eye, and decidedly prognathous jaws, very plausible, and, when he had an object in view, very hospitable; but he hid a craven spirit under a show of bluster and bullying. Noor Adam was a little slim man, with narrow eyes and ferret-like features. He was reported to have shot some of his porters on his journey across West Kenia, for attempted desertion. He somehow provoked an instinctive feeling of dislike, and we never got on with him. His two partners, Bhotan and Abdallah Arahalli, were much of the same kidney. All three were Ogaden Somalis, a tribe who have not the best of reputations. There were sundry other lesser lights who are not of sufficient importance to deserve notice. When they came into camp we received them with due ceremony, and asking them to be seated, interchanged greetings in the Mohammedan manner. For a moment the air resounded with such remarks as “Sabal Kheir” (God bless you), “Salaam Aliekoum” (Peace be on you), and “Aliekoum Salaam” (And on you peace), mingled with the Swahili “Uhali ghani? Habari ghani?” (How are you? What news?), till etiquette was satisfied. We then got to business, and discussed the Embe affair in all its bearings. El Hakim cross-questioned Noor Adam and some of his men very severely, but could find no discrepancy in their various accounts. We discussed the matter very fully, and finally, for the good and sufficient reasons I have already enumerated, we determined to punish the Wa’Embe in co-operation with the Somalis. We instructed them to provide thirty-five men carrying Snider rifles, while we undertook to supply twenty-five men similarly armed, which, with ourselves, made up a strong force of sixty-three men, a number we considered amply sufficient for the purpose in hand. We despatched a nephew of N’Dominuki’s to Embe as a spy, to find out a good road and the position of the villages, etc., and he started the same evening. On the following day we held another “shaurie” with the Somalis to discuss the _modus operandi_ of our projected expedition. N’Dominuki’s nephew had been instructed to return from Embe within two days, and we decided to start on the afternoon of the next day—by which time, bar accidents, he would have returned—and march immediately on receiving his report. We intended to start just before dusk, pass through M’thara in the darkness, and be over the Embe border unperceived at midnight. A short rest and a dash on the Wa’Embe at dawn would complete the operation. It was a good plan, and would have answered admirably but for one of those little accidents that make “the best-laid schemes o’ mice and men gang aft agley.” As will be seen, it suited _the enemy_ admirably.