tail were in a dead line, and she was crouching slightly 

 as for a spring ; her ears were laid flat back, her lips 

 twitching constantly, showing the strong white teeth, 

 and her cross wicked eyes had such a look of remorseless 

 cruelty in them that we stopped as if we had been 

 turned to stone. She never moved a muscle or made 

 a sound, but kept those eyes steadily fixed on us. 

 We moved back a pace or two and began to coax and 

 wheedle her ; but it was no good ; she never moved 

 or made a sound, and the unblinking look remained. 

 For a minute we stood our ground, and then the hair 

 on her back and shoulders began very slowly to stand 

 up. That was enough : we cleared off. It was a 

 mighty uncanny appearance. 



Then another tried his hand ; but it was just the 

 same. No one could do anything with her ; no one 

 could get near the guns or the water-barrel ; as soon 

 as we returned for a fresh attempt she reappeared in 

 the same place and in the same way. 



The position was too ridiculous, and we were at our 

 wits' end ; for Jess held the camp. The kaffirs declared 

 the dog was mad, and we began to have very un- 

 comfortable suspicions that they were right ; but we 

 decided to make a last attempt, and surrounding the 

 place approached from all sides. But the suddenness 

 with which she appeared before we got into position 

 so demoralised the kaffirs that they bolted, and we gave 

 it up, owning ourselves beaten. We turned to watch her 

 as she ran back for the last time, and as she disappeared 

 in the grass we heard distinctly the cry of a very young 

 puppy. Then the secret of Jess's madness was out. 



52 



