struggle. After that he became a second shadow, and woe
betide the man who had dared to raise his hand to Colin's
master. Japp declared that the dog was a devil, and Colin
repaid the compliment with a hearty dislike.

With Colin, I now took to spending some of my ample
leisure in exploring the fastnesses of the Berg. I had brought
out a shot-gun of my own, and I borrowed a cheap Mauser
sporting rifle from the store. I had been born with a good eye
and a steady hand, and very soon I became a fair shot with a
gun and, I believe, a really fine shot with the rifle. The sides
of the Berg were full of quail and partridge and bush pheasant,
and on the grassy plateau there was abundance of a bird not
unlike our own blackcock, which the Dutch called korhaan.
But the great sport was to stalk bush-buck in the thickets,
which is a game in which the hunter is at small advantage. I
have been knocked down by a wounded bush-buck ram, and
but for Colin might have been badly damaged. Once, in a kloof
not far from the Letaba, I killed a fine leopard, bringing him
down with a single shot from a rocky shelf almost on the top
of Colin. His skin lies by my fireside as I write this tale. But it
was during the days I could spare for an expedition into the
plains that I proved the great qualities of my dog. There we
had nobler game to follow - wildebeest and hartebeest, impala,
and now and then a koodoo. At first I was a complete duffer,
and shamed myself in Colin's eyes. But by-and-by I learned
something of veld-craft: I learned how to follow spoor, how to
allow for the wind, and stalk under cover. Then, when a shot
had crippled the beast, Colin was on its track like a flash to
pull it down. The dog had the nose of a retriever, the speed of