d 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 a greyhound, and the strength of a bull-terrier. I blessed the day
when the wandering prospector had passed the store.

Colin slept at night at the foot of my bed, and it was he who led me to
make an important discovery. For I now became aware that I was being
subjected to constant espionage. It may have been going on from the
start, but it was not till my third month at Blaauwildebeestefontein
that I found it out. One night I was going to bed, when suddenly the
bristles rose on the dog's back and he barked uneasily at the window.
I had been standing in the shadow, and as I stepped to the window to
look out I saw a black face disappear below the palisade of the
backyard. The incident was trifling, but it put me on my guard. The
next night I looked, but saw nothing. The third night I looked, and
caught a glimpse of a face almost pressed to the pane. Thereafter I
put up the shutters after dark, and shifted my bed to a part of the
room out of line with the window.

It was the same out of doors. I would suddenly be conscious, as I
walked on the road, that I was being watched. If I made as if to walk
into the roadside bush there would be a faint rustling, which told that
the watcher had retired. The stalking was brilliantly done, for I
never caught a glimpse of one of the stalkers. Wherever I went--on the
road, on the meadows of the plateau, or on the rugged sides of the
Berg--it was the same. I had silent followers, who betrayed themselves
now and then by the crackling of a branch, and eyes were always looking
at me which I could not see. Only when I went down to the plains did
the espionage cease. This thing annoyed Colin desperately, and his
walks abroad were one continuous growl. Once, in spite of my efforts,
he dashed into the thicket, and a squeal of pain followed. He had got
somebody by the leg, and there was blood on the grass.

Since I came to Blaauwildebeestefontein I had fo