194 AFRICAN CAMP FIRES. 



blankets flapping in the breeze of their going. 

 The convention was adjourned. There fell the 

 sucking vacuum of a great silence. Captain D., 

 breathing righteous wrath, flopped heavily and 

 determinedly down on his cot. I caught a faint 

 snicker from the tent next door. 



Captain D. sighed deeply, turned over, and 

 prepared to sleep. Then one of the dogs up- 

 rose I think it was Ben stretched himself, 

 yawned, approached deliberately, and began to 

 drink from the canvas bath-tub just outside. 

 He drank lap, lap, lap, lap for a very long time. 

 It seemed incredible that any mere dog or can- 

 vas bath-tub could hold so much water. The 

 steady repetition of this sound long after it should 

 logically have ceased was worse than the shenzi 

 gathering around the fire. Each lap should have 

 been the last, but it was not. The shenzi con- 

 vention had been abated with firebrands, but the 

 dog was strictly within his rights. The poor 

 pups had had a long day with little water, and 

 they could hardly be blamed for feeling a bit 

 feverish now. At last Ben ceased. Next morn- 

 ing Captain D. claimed vehemently that he had 

 drunk two hours forty-nine minutes and ten 

 seconds. With a contented sigh Ben lay down. 

 Then Ruby got up, shook herself, and yawned. 



