Soldiering and Sport in Uganda 



me by her playful waywardness. For instance, she 

 jumped on my dining-table the other night and up- 

 tipped everything. She frequently, when wet to 

 the skin and besmeared with mud, after tearing 

 round my tent in a playful frenzy, eventually 

 takes a flying leap on to my bed or pillow. She 

 has a knack also of jumping up at me when 

 she is very gay, and as her nails are extra 

 long, I sometimes resent it rather brusquely. 

 She loves chasing native goats, birds, butterflies, 

 cows, and even wild buffalo. But whatever wrongs 

 she commits, and they are manifold, she asks 

 forgiveness in such a winning, coaxing, and truly 

 efleminate spirit, that being only a man, I cannot 

 resist her. And so she is not only spoilt, but 

 knows it : a great difficulty I discern looming 

 larger and larger every day. How shall I leave 

 her behind when I return to Europe ? Yet I know 

 I shall ultimately have to do so, seeing that she 

 is only an African dog, after all; but yet she has 

 helped me to beguile many a cheerless hour. She 

 has seen me shoot my first elephant, chase my first 

 buflalo; insisted, after having been left behind for 

 two days at the base, on nosing me out and 

 accompanying me on service; and we have shared 

 our very meagre rations, which meant practical 

 starvation from her point of view. She has helped 

 me to dig the trenches by the light of the moon; she 

 has kept me warm when I have had to sleep in 

 them, always cheerful and ready to gambol with 

 me. What a deep debt I owe her, and can you 



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