A FASCINATING WILD BEAST 
221 
Consequently Little Wanderobo Dog was con¬ 
fronted by the necessity of adopting a place to sleep 
where he would be safe from those sharp arrows of 
the north wind that swept across the high stretches 
of the plateau. So he ingratiated himself into my 
tent with many friendly wags of his tail and a coun¬ 
tenance of such benign faith in human nature that 
he was allowed to remain. At many times in the 
night I was awakened and I knew that Little Wan¬ 
derobo Dog was dreaming about some wicked 
swamp ogre that was trying to kick him. 
At first he was not a silent sleeper, but later on 
these awful nightmares came with less frequency 
and I presume his dreams took on a more beatific 
character. As a watch-dog I don’t believe he had 
great value, because of his readiness to make friends 
with anything and anybody. If a leopard had come 
into the tent he would have said, “Excuse me, but 
I think you are in the wrong place,” but he would 
never have barked or conducted himself in an un- 
gentlemanly way. 
One could never tell what was likely to come into 
one’s tent at night, even with armed askaris patrol¬ 
ling the camp all night long. One cold night, before 
Little Wanderobo Dog had come to live with us, I 
was awakened by a curious rustle of the tent flaps. 
I listened and then watched the tent flap for some 
moments, thinking that the wind might have been 
responsible. But there was no wind and it seemed 
beyond doubt that some animal had entered. 
For a long time I listened, but could hear noth- 
