Towards sunset the dogs returned. What a sight they presented! their muzzles were red with the blood of the animals they had killed and eaten. Some were wounded. One had its ears cut almost in two. Another had the end of one of its ears bitten off. Another had the upper lip cut. Three had their backs somewhat lacerated. Suddenly Rogola said, “Where is my dog ‘Spear’? I do not see him among the others; he must have been killed in his fight with the wild beasts.” It was no doubt so, for “Spear” was never seen again. Regundo gave it as his opinion that the dogs that came in with their ears and lips cut, had fought with monkeys they had surprised on the ground. Those whose backs were lacerated had been wounded by wild boars; and they had succeeded in killing some animal, and had devoured it; hence their bloody muzzles.
Some of the men attended to the wounded dogs, and said that in a few days they would be all right again. The dogs had evidently fed well that day; soon after their return they all were fast asleep under the piazzas of their masters’ houses. Three days afterwards all the dogs that were not wounded disappeared again and went to the forest to hunt. They were evidently on the scent of game, for we heard them barking. Regundo took his gun, to be ready, but gradually their bark became fainter and finally died away. The game had escaped them.
“Sometimes the dogs have great trouble in chasing an antelope,” said Regundo to me, “for these animals are very fleet. Often they tire the dogs; these then gradually fall behind, and the antelope escapes.”
Early the following morning Oshoria, Ogoola, Ngola, Quabi, and I went after antelopes. The men had their dogs with them. These were soon out of sight, and as we went along on the hunting path, my hunters would call them. After walking about three hours we heard the dogs bark. “They are running after an antelope,” said Oshoria. The barking came nearer. Soon it was very close to us and we were watching intently when an antelope, followed closely by the dogs, dashed by us. We fired, and the beautiful animal fell dead. We had the greatest trouble to keep the dogs at a distance, and we could not do so until we had cut off the legs and some of the meat of the animal and thrown these to them.
In the evening, as my hunters and I were seated by a bright fire, they told stories of dogs.
Oshoria’s story, which was the longest, was as follows: “Some dogs are very useful in time of war, for they can find men hiding behind trees, and warn us of their presence. One day, years ago, I was on the war-path. I had then a dog called ‘Idombe.’ He was very cunning, and followed me always in the forest in war times. I had trained him never to bark when he discovered a stranger, but to come back to me. At that time the enemies of King Mombo would lie in wait for his people along the paths in the forest, then attack them suddenly. Sometimes there were two or three together, and sometimes but one. I had gone to reconnoitre, and had Idombe with me. He was scouring the forest in every direction ahead of me as I went along. Sometimes I lost sight of him. Once when he reappeared and came towards me, when he was near enough he looked at me and made me signs to follow him, which I did, for I knew that he had seen something unusual. Suspecting danger, and fearing a sudden attack, I walked most carefully, at the same time stopping every few steps and looking around and even up into the trees. Suddenly Idombe barked fiercely, looking in a certain direction, turning towards which I saw a spear fly out and graze Idombe’s body. This was followed by an arrow, which imbedded its head in a tree near him.
“I looked all around. At first I could see no enemy. Then I saw two men near together lying flat on the ground among the leaves; one had a bunch of barbed spears by his side, the other a bow and a bag filled with arrows. I came forward, giving the cry of King Mombo. This was immediately answered by the same cry, which meant peace. These two men belonged to a friendly clan, whose warriors had come to side with King Mombo. Poor Idombe had a narrow escape.
“Just in time to see a huge male leopard spring upon one of the dogs”
“The next day I went again into the forest with Idombe. I had lost sight of him and wondered where he had gone, when I heard him give a certain cry of pain, as if some one were choking him. I went in that direction and came to a little pool of water where animals came to drink, for there were many footprints round it. Then I saw a very large python squeezing poor Idombe tightly within its powerful folds. The dog was dead, its head was already in the mouth of the big snake. It is the habit of these big pythons to lie by pools coiled round a tree of the color of their skin and wait for their prey; then they spring upon their victims and, squeezing them to death, swallow them slowly.