THERE were six puppies, and as the waggons were 

 empty we fixed up a roomy nest in one of them for 

 Jess and her family. There was no trouble with Jess ; 

 nobody interfered with her, and she interfered with 

 nobody. The boys kept clear of her ; but we used 

 to take a look at her and the puppies as we walked 

 along with the waggons ; so by degrees she got to 

 know that we would not harm them, and she no longer 

 wanted to eat us alive if we went near and talked to 

 her. 



Five of the puppies were fat strong yellow little 

 chaps with dark muzzles just like their father, as 

 Ted said ; and their father was an imported dog, 

 and was always spoken of as the best dog of the breed 

 that had ever been in the country. I never saw him, 

 so I do not really know what he was like perhaps 

 he was not a yellow dog at all ; but, whatever he was, 

 he had at that time a great reputation because he was 

 * imported,' and there were not half a dozen imported 

 dogs in the whole of the Transvaal then. Many 



