as to be more ominous and disquieting than absolute 

 silence. 



" He has killed the dogs," the old chief said, in a low 

 voice. 



But as he said it there was a rustle in front, and some- 

 thing came out towards us. The guns were up and 

 levelled, instantly, but dropped again when we saw it 

 was a dog ; and Jess came back limping badly and 

 stopping every few paces to shake her head and rub 

 her mouth against her fore-paws. She was in great 

 pain and breathed out faint barely-audible whines 

 from time to time. 



We waited for minutes, but Jock did not appear ; 

 and as the curious sounds still came from the bush 

 we moved forward in open order, very slowly and with 

 infinite caution. As we got closer, scouting each bush 

 and open space, the sounds grew clearer, and suddenly 

 it came to me that it was the noise of a body being 

 dragged and the grunting breathing of a dog. I 

 called sharply to Jock and the sound stopped ; and 

 taking a few paces forward then, I saw him in a moonlit 

 space turning round and round on the pivot of his 

 hind-legs and swinging or dragging something much 

 bigger than himself. 



Jim gave a yell and shot past me, plunging his 

 assegai into the object and shouting " Porcupine, 

 porcupine," at the top of his voice. We were all 

 round it in a couple of seconds, but I think the porcu- 

 pine was as good as dead even before Jim had stabbed 

 it. Jock was still holding on grimly, tugging with all 

 his might and always with the same movement of 



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