re arguing, the time came when I usually left the town for
the day, and the immediate thing to be done was to get away from that
place and out into the woods, and all went well till we got to the last
house in the town.

Now, however, Kahwa insisted on going up to snuff around this house. I
warned her of the dog, but the truth was that she had grown accustomed
to dogs, and I think had really lost her fear of men. So she went close
up to the house, and began smelling round the walls to see if there was
anything good to eat, while I stood back under the trees fretting and
impatient of her delay.

Having sniffed all along one side of the house, she passed round the
corner to the back. In turning the corner she came right upon the dog,
who flew at her at once, though he was not much bigger than her head.
Whether she was accustomed to dogs or not, the sudden attack startled
her, and she turned round to run back to me. In doing so she just grazed
the corner of the house, and the next instant she was rolling head over
heels on the ground. The end of her chain had caught in the crack
between the ends of two of the logs at the corner, and she was held as
firmly as if she had been tied to her stump in front of the door. As she
rolled over, the dog jumped upon her, small as he was, yelping all the
time, and barking furiously. I thought it would only be a momentary
delay, but the chain held fast, and all the while the dog's attacks made
it impossible for her to give her attention to trying to tear it free.

A minute later, and the door of the house burst open, and a man came
running out, carrying, to my horror, a thunder-stick in his hand. Kahwa
and the dog were all mixed up together on the ground, and I saw the man
stop and stand still a moment and point the thunder-stick at her. And
then came that terrible noise of the thunder-stick speaking.

Too frightened to see what happened, I took to my heels, and plunged
into the wood as fast as I could, without the man or the dog having
seen me. I ran on for some distance till I felt safe enough to stop and
listen, but there was not a sound, and no sign of Kahwa coming after me.
I waited and waited until the sun came up, and still there was no sign
of Kahwa, until at last I summoned up courage to steal slowly back
again. As I came near I heard the dog barking at intervals, and then the
voices of men. Very cautiously I crept near enough to get a view of the
house from behind, and as I c