at the
dog was secured, he proceeded, with a diabolical chuckle, to settle his
account with the poor animal. He had left his gun behind on the grass,
but he still held his assegai in his hand, and going out of the kitchen
door with it, he showed himself within a few feet of the kennel. The dog
recognised him instantly, and went nearly mad with fury, making the most
desperate efforts to break its chain and get at him. For some moments
he stood exciting the animal by derisive gestures and pelting it with
stones, till at last, fearing that the clamour would attract attention,
he suddenly transfixed it with his spear, and then, thinking he was
quite unobserved, sat down, snuffed and enjoyed the luxury of watching
the poor beast's last agonies.

But, as it happened, he was not quite alone, for, creeping along in the
grass and rubbish that grew on the farther side of the wall, his brown
body squeezed tightly against the brown stones--so tightly that an
unpractised eye would certainly have failed to notice it at a distance
of a dozen paces--was the Hottentot Jantje. Occasionally, too, he would
lift his head above the level of the wall and observe the proceedings
of the one-eyed man. Apparently he was undecided what to do, for he
hesitated a little, and whilst he did so Hendrik killed the dog.

Now Jantje had all a Hottentot's natural love for animals, which is,
generally speaking, as marked as is the Kafir's callousness towards
them, and he was particularly fond of the dog Stomp, which always went
out with him those rare occasions when he thought it safe or desirable
to walk like an ordinary man instead of wriggling from bush to bush like
a panther, or wriggling through the grass like a snake. The sight of
the animal's death, therefore, raised in his yellow breast a very keen
desire for vengeance on the murderer, if vengeance could be safely
accomplished; and he paused to reflect how this might be done. As he
thought Hendrik rose, gave the dead dog a kick, withdrew his assegai
from the carcase, and then, as though struck by a sudden desire to
conceal the murder, he undid the collar and, lifting the dog in his
arms, carried him with difficulty into the house and laid him under the
kitchen-table. This done, he came out again to the wall, which was built
of unmortared stones, pulled one out without trouble, deposited the
watch and the silver he had stolen in the cavity, and replaced the
stone. Next, before Jantje could guess wha