FOUR-FOOTED rRIZE-FlGUTERS. 265 



they could not afford to starve him. But on the day 

 of battle he was a changed dog. They used to take 

 him out in an open cart, and from the moment they 

 left the stable Klaas would stand bolt upright, uttering 

 now and then a deep-mouthed bark that became fierce 

 and defiant as the cart approached the gardenhuys. In 

 the arena he seemed to act on Prince Eugene's principle, 

 — that " there is profit in offensive operations." He 

 never waited for an attack, and, being himself a con- 

 summate master of that art, never permitted his adver- 

 sary to take an unfair advantage. Generosity and fear 

 were equally foreign to his nature. A stumbling foe 

 was promptly overthrown, a prostrate one at once torn 

 into pieces. He knew no mercy. He was a perfect 

 beast of prey, and nothing else. And, with all his au- 

 dacity, he had not the foolhardiness of a bull-dog. Un- 

 known animals he studied before he attacked them. 

 They once pitted him against a wanderoo, or Cingalese 

 baboon, a brute with the face of a gargoyle and the 

 mane of a lion. Klaas kept as still as a mouse, and, 

 with his tail stiffly erect, walked round and round the 

 ring and scrutinized the phenomenon. He did not like 

 the cunning eyes of the half-man. but somehow or other 

 he made up his mind that, whatever the creature might 

 be, he was no fighter, and, slowly contracting his circle, 

 he suddenly and without the least warning sprang upon 

 the stranger and massacred him on the spot, though the 

 monkey nearly pulled the ears out of his head. 



