"Rogala," said I, "I will be your friend. When we get into the forest, we will be like two men who are born the same day." Among the Africans of the great forest, when two men are born the same day, they are foster brothers.
"Good indeed you are, Oguizi," replied Rogala. "I will obey you in everything."
Then I presented him with a big hunting-knife, which pleased him greatly.
The following day, while I was seated by Rotembo under the veranda of his house, I saw Rogala coming towards us. He had with him a very strange-looking dog.
Rotembo said to me: "Look at this dog. His name is Andekko. He is fearless and always in the thick of the fight. He is not afraid of any wild beast. In war he always warns us of an enemy hiding in the jungle. He is the best of hunting dogs. He goes into the forest all alone in search of game, and will drive the antelope or gazelle up to Rogala or the hunter he knows, even if it takes him the whole day to do so. He has captured several young nginas and nshiegos after their mothers were killed, and gone into the lair of leopards and killed their young. The wonder is that he has not been killed by a gorilla or leopard long before now or been gashed in two by a boar or disabled by monkeys. Many times he will prevent you from being hungry while you are in the forest."
Rogala and Andekko.
I gazed at Andekko with wonder, he looked so very ugly. He was covered with scars, marks of the wounds he had received in his conflicts with wild animals. One of his ears was split in two. His upper and lower lips were also cut on the left side. These two wounds had been made by a large monkey, called a mandril, which often walks on the ground and had been surprised there by Andekko.
Rotembo, seeing that I was looking at the scars of Andekko, said: "Oguizi, when wounded, this dog becomes even fiercer and more courageous than before. He is famous for his courage."
Andekko belonged to the same family of dogs as those that had gone gorilla-hunting with me at King Mombo's plantation. His hair was of yellowish color, and he had a white spot on his throat. His tail could not have been more curly, and he was quite lean; his legs were somewhat long.