to suit him. For a few months it would not matter ; 

 but I had no idea of letting him end his days as a watch- 

 dog at a trader's store in the kaffir country. Tom's 

 trouble was with thieves ; for the natives about there 

 were not a good lot, and their dogs were worse. When 

 Jock saw or scented them, they had the poorest sort 

 of luck or chance : he fought to kill, and not as town 

 dogs fight ; he had learnt his work in a hard school, 

 and he never stopped or slackened until the work 

 was done ; so his fame soon spread and it brought 

 Tom more peace than he had enjoyed for many a day. 

 Natives no longer wandered at will into the reed- 

 enclosed yard ; kaffir dogs ceased to sneak into the 

 store and through the house, stealing everything they 

 could get. Jock took up his place at the door, and 

 hungry mongrels watched him from a distance or 

 sneaked up a little closer when from time to time he 

 trotted round to the yard at the back of the building 

 to see how things were going there. 



All that was well enough during the day ; but the 

 trouble 'occurred at night. The kaffirs were too scared 

 to risk-;being caught by him, but the dogs from the 

 surrounding kraals prowled about after dark, scaveng- 

 ing and thieving where they could ; and what angered 

 Tom most of all was the killing of his fowls. The yard 

 at the back of the store was enclosed by a fence of 

 close-packed reeds, and in the middle of the yard 

 stood the fowl -house with a clear space of bare ground 

 all round it. On many occasions kaffir dogs had 

 found their way through the reed fence and killed 

 fowls perching about the yard, and several times they 

 : 462 



