he called to Jess, and she ran out of a patch of soft 

 grass under one of the big trees behind our waggons. 

 She answered his call instantly, but when she saw 

 him moving off on the other waggon she sat down 

 in the road and watched him anxiously for some 

 seconds, then ran on a few steps in her curious quick 

 silent way and again stopped, giving swift glances 

 alternately towards Ted and towards us. Ted re- 

 marked laughingly that she evidently thought he had 

 made a mistake by getting on to the wrong waggon, 

 and that she would follow presently. 



After he had disappeared she ran back to her patch 

 of grass and lay down, but in a few minutes she was 

 back again squatting in the road looking with that 

 same anxious worried expression after her master. 

 Thus she went to and fro for the quarter of an hour 

 it took us to inspan, and each time she passed we could 

 hear a faint anxious little whine. 



The oxen were inspanned and the last odd things 

 were being put up when one of the boys came to say 

 that he could not get the guns and water-barrel 

 because Jess would not let him near them. There was 

 something the matter with the dog, he said ; he 

 thought she was mad. 



Knowing how Jess hated kaffirs we laughed at the 

 notion, and went for the things ourselves. As we 

 came within five yards of the tree where we had left 

 the guns there was a rustle in the grass, and Jess came 

 out with her swift silent run, appearing as unexpectedly 

 as a snake does, and with some odd suggestion of a 

 snake in her look and attitude. Her head, body and 



5' 



