moving towards them or even staring hard and with 

 his ears and tail up, the retreat would be made with 

 a gloomy and dignified air, sometimes even with growls 

 just loud enough to please themselves without provok- 

 ing him ; if he was fairly close up when spotted they 

 wasted no time in putting on airs, but trotted off 

 promptly ; but sometimes they would be too busy 

 to notice anything until a growl or a rustle in the 

 grass close behind gave warning ; and it was always 

 followed by a jump and a shameless scuttle, very often 

 accompanied by a strangled sort of yowling yelp, just 

 as if he had already got them by the ear or throat. 



Some of them became so nervous that we could 

 not resist playing practical jokes on them making 

 sudden strange noises, imitating Jock's growls, tossing 

 bits of bark at them or touching them from behind 

 with a stick while they were completely occupied with 

 their bones for the fun of seeing the stampede and 

 hearing the sudden howls of surprise and fright. 



One by one the other puppies were taken away by 

 their new masters, and before Jock was three months 

 old he and Jess were the only dogs with the waggons. 

 Then he went to school, and like all schoolboys learnt 

 some things very quickly the things that he liked ; 

 and some things he learnt very slowly, and hated them 

 just as a boy hates extra work in play-time. When I 

 poked about with a stick in the banks of dongas to 

 turn out mice and field-rats for him, or when I hid a 

 partridge or a hare and made him find it, he was as 

 happy as could be ; but when I made him lie down 

 and watch my gun or coat while I pretended to go 



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