before
it disappeared again.

That bright object, which was gilded by the sun's rays now flashing
horizontally through the trees, was the head of an assegai, sharp and
cruelly dangerous; but Dyke's eyes were gazing straight away, over the
desert veldt, while he felt as if he should like to whistle.

At last there was a distant metallic clangour; then came the rushing of
wings, the alighting of a noisy flock of birds which began to cry "_Come
back! Come back! Come back_!" and Dyke's gun spoke out twice, bringing
down twice as many birds.

"Now, if I had old Duke here, he might have retrieved those for me,"
thought the boy, rising to take a step or two toward the spot where his
birds had fallen, the rest of the flock having departed with a wild
outcry, and as he moved, four assegais were raised into a horizontal
position. But, taught caution by the wild life he had been accustomed
to, he stopped to recharge his gun.

Before he had quite finished, there was a loud barking at a little
distance.

"Why, there he is, tracking me out," cried Dyke; and, whistling sharply,
the barking came again more loudly, a shout bringing Duke to his side,
while, as soon as the dog understood what was wanted, he darted off
after the fallen birds, bringing in two directly from close to where the
assegais had been poised.

"Good dog! Two more! Seek!" cried Dyke. "Off with you!"

The dog bounded away again, and Dyke stood whistling softly to himself
as he examined his prizes, and admired their clean-looking, speckled
plumage.

Duke was back directly, gave up the birds, coughed his teeth clear of
fluffy feathers, and then turned and stood looking in the direction from
whence he had fetched the guinea-fowls.

"Oh yes," said his master, "there'll be plenty more soon, but we've got
enough; so come along."

Dyke shouldered his gun, carried the speckled birds in a bunch by their
legs, and walked away toward the edge of the forest patch, the dog
looking back from time to time, and barking uneasily. But the master
could not read the dog's warning; he attributed it to the guinea-fowl
coming to roost, though black-faced lurkers, armed with assegais, were
on the dog's trail till they were safely out of the forest, at whose
edge the four Kaffirs paused to watch, while Dyke went on toward home.

And now the dog forgot that which he had seen in the wood. The open
veldt, with the kopje on their left, made him recall something else, and
he