There were a roar, a leap, a scramble, an* Abe
Pike were shooting on his tracks for the open
veld. He didn*t stop running till he got home
— he didn*t — not me.*

' And the baboon ? He wasn*t killed, was
he.?*

* You wait — jes you wait. Before you get
the end o* the journey you*ve got to pass the
half-way house. This is a solitary place — this
mansion — and beyond the ole Gaika-Bolo I
have no visitors — an* he only when he*s
doctorin* the Kaffirs down these parts. So
that night, when there were a tap at the door,
I were skeered a little from the shake I got
when I saw that black critter staring at me
with them wicked eyes of hisn. " Come in ! *'
I sed, an* the tap came agin, soft an* gentle,

20



THE BABOON AND THE TIGER

like as if a child or a woman were standin'
there — timid— tho* it s many a year since a
female brushed the door-post with her dress —
a many years, my lad.'

* Yes, Uncle ; who was it ? '

' " Come in ! " I sed, laying hold o' a piece
of wood. ^']es pull the string," I sed. Believe
me, the string were pulled — the upper half o*
the door swung open, an* he stepped in.'

*Who?'

* The old man baboon ! He pulled the
string, the door swung open, an' he hopped in.'

' Good gracious, Uncle ! '

* Yer s'prised. Well, jes think how it
took me — an' on top o' what I saw that day.
