SOME OF OUR PETS. 41 



was attacked with distemper, and, the summer being 

 also an unusually hot one, ever3^thing seemed against 

 him. He was so ill that we quite gave up all hope of 

 saving him, and bitterly regretted having brought him 

 out with us. Just when he was at his worst, however, 

 business called us away for a few days to Cradock, 



which is some distance inland ; and T , knowing it 



to be a healthy place for dogs, suggested that we should 

 take the poor creature with us — dying as he seemed to 

 be — on the slight chance that the change of climate 

 might save him. We left him there — parting from 

 him sadly and without much hope of seeing him again ; 

 but we were leaving him in the kindest of hands, and, 

 thanks to the careful nursing he received, as well as to 

 the timely change of air, he lived — indeed, I am glad to 

 say, lives still. He remained some months at Cradock, 

 whence from time to time came the good news of his 

 steady improvement, and finally, some time after we 

 had settled up-country, the announcement that he 

 would be sent off to us at the first opportunity. 



Then, one day as we sat at dinner, we heard a 

 sudden and startlino^ tumult in the kitchen ; the wel- 

 comincT voices of the servants ; a frantic sen file outside 

 the sitting-room door ; and in rushed Toto, handsomer 

 and fuller of life and spirits than ever ; whining and 

 howling with delight, and nearly upsetting us, chairs 

 and all, besides endangering everything on the table, 

 as he jumped wildly to lick our faces. He had been 

 brought from Klipplaat by a passing waggon, in the 

 usual " promiscuous " manner in which property, ani- 



