over his
shoulder and said:

"What sort of beast is that?"

I turned and looked back. It was a dark afternoon and inclining
moreover to dusk, but I could make out something white glinting through
the bush, rather behind us, but as if running parallel to our way. The
bush grew in patches, and the thing would be alternately hidden or in
the open again.

"Here goes for a shot, anyway," said Falkner, slipping from his horse.
He carried a rifle and smooth-bore combination gun, and before I could
prevent him or perhaps because I tried to, he had loosed off a bullet at
the strange beast. A splash of dust, a good deal short of the mark,
leaped up where it struck.

"The line was good but not the distance," he grumbled. "I'll get him
this time," slipping in a fresh cartridge.

"Much better not," I urged. "We don't want to get into any more bother
with the people by shooting their dogs."

He made no answer, and I was glad that the bush thickened where the
animal had now disappeared.

"Let's get on," I said. "It's nearly dark."

He mounted and we had just resumed our way, when not twenty yards
distant, the creature came bounding forth, frightening our horses by the
suddenness of his appearance. There was nothing hostile, however, in
his attitude. He was wagging his tail, and squirming and whimpering in
delight, as a dog will do when he has found a long-lost master, or at
best a well-known friend. I stared, hardly able to believe my own
eyesight. The large, wolf-like form, the bushy tail--why there could be
no duplicate of this ever whelped at a Zulu kraal, that was certain.

"Arlo," I cried. "Arlo, old chap. What are you doing in these parts,
eh?"

The dog whined with delight, squirming up to us, his brush going like a
flail. In a moment we were both off our horses.

"It's Arlo right enough," said Falkner, patting the dog, who never
ceased whimpering and licking his hands. "The question is how did he
get here? Eh?"

"Stolen most likely, but it couldn't have been long ago, for Miss Sewin
made no mention of his loss in her letter to me--and it's hardly likely
she'd have forgotten to mention such an important event if it had
happened then."

Somehow I could not help connecting Ukozi with this, and felt vaguely
uneasy. What had been happening of late? Had the dog been stolen with
any deeper motive than his own intrinsic value--to get him out of the
way for instance and clear the road for the carrying