"Confound the brute! he shall not escape me this time," said Negoro.
He caught up Harris's gun, and raising it to his shoulder, he fired just as the dog was in the act of springing at his throat. A long whine of pain followed the report, and Dingo disappeared again amongst the bushes that fringed the stream. Negoro was instantly upon his track, but could discover nothing beyond a few blood-stains upon the stalks of the papyrus, and a long crimson trail upon the pebbles on the bank.
"I think I have done for the beast now," was Negoro's remark as he returned from his fruitless search.
Harris, who had been a silent spectator of the whole scene, now asked coolly,-
"What makes that animal have such an inveterate dislike to you?"
"Oh, there is an old score to settle between us," replied the Portuguese.
"What about?" inquired the American.
Negoro made no reply, and finding him evidently disinclined to be communicative on the subject, Harris did not press the matter any further.
A few moments later the two men were descending the stream, and making their way through the forest towards the Coanza.
[Illustration: Dingo disappeared again amongst the bushes]