connected story involved, as one might have known, 

 endless trouble and changes, necessitating complete 

 re-writing of most parts ; and the responsibility and 

 work became still greater when, after a casual and un- 

 foreseen meeting, my friend Mr. Caldwell accepted the 

 suggestion to come out to South Africa and spend six 

 months with us in order to study the game in its native 

 bush and to know the conditions of the life and put 

 that experience into the work of illustrating " Jock." 

 The writer is well aware that, from the above causes 

 and one other, there are grave inequalities in style and 

 system, and in plane of phrase and thought, in different 

 parts of the book. For this feature the * one other ' 

 cause is alone put forward as a defence. The story 

 belongs to the Little People, and their requirements 

 were defined " It must be all true ! Don't leave 

 out anything!" It has been necessary to leave out 

 a great deal ; but the other condition has been fully 

 and fairly complied with ; for it is a true story from 

 beginning to end. It is not a diary : incidents have 

 been grouped and moved to get over the difficulty of 

 blank days and bad spells, but there is no incident of 

 importance or of credit to Jock which is not absolutely 

 true. The severest trial in this connection was in the 

 last chapter, which is bound to recall perhaps the most 

 famous and most cherished of all dog stories. Much, 

 indeed, would have been sacrificed to avoid that ; but 

 it was unthinkable that, for any reason, one should in 

 the last words shatter the spell that holds Jock dear 

 to those for whom his life is chronicled the spell 

 that lies in ' a true story.' 



x 



