I GO HUNTING IN THE FOREST WITH ANDEKKO--DISAPPEARANCE OF THE
DOG--SOUNDS OF A FIERCE CONFLICT--I FIND ANDEKKO FIGHTING WITH A
MANDRILL--HE KILLS HIS ENEMY, BUT DIES OF HIS WOUNDS--BURIED IN THE
FOREST
WE felt very lonely after the death of Ndova. But, alas! his loss was
not to prove our only misfortune. I went one day alone into the forest
and took Andekko with me. After walking three or four miles I came to
a part of the forest where there was no jungle. Such tracts are often
found, especially where water has been long standing during the rainy
season. I walked consequently noiselessly, looking carefully all around
me as I went.
Andekko had disappeared in search of game. After a while I saw three
large mandrills, the largest I had ever seen, walking away from me.
Mandrills of that size are very formidable animals and have terrible
canines. They were out of sight, and I had been unable to shoot at
them, as trees were in my way.
I kept on, nevertheless, when I was suddenly startled by the fierce
barking of Andekko. Then I heard a howl of pain from him, followed
immediately by a shrill shriek from an animal which I thought must be
one of the mandrills I had seen. I hurried as fast as I could towards
the place whence the cries came, and once more I heard the fierce
barking of Andekko.
I was not mistaken. When I reached him, as I soon did, Andekko had
pinned the mandrill down and they were fighting savagely. Andekko was
covered with blood. One of his ears hung limp. He had a terrible gash
in his back, and part of his lower lip was badly cut. The mandrill's
teeth had made sad havoc with poor Andekko.
But the mandrill lay underneath him on the ground, the blood flowing
from his neck profusely. Andekko's teeth had probably bitten through
the jugular vein. But what big teeth the mandrill had! When he saw me,
he uttered a piercing cry. I shouted to Andekko again and again, but
he did not heed my voice in the least. He glared with rage, and his
hair stood up straight on his back. Nothing could have made him give up
his prey. He had hold of the mandrill in such manner that the latter
could not bite him. They rolled on the ground on the top of each other.
Andekko clung fast. The mandrill tried with his feet to push Andekko
off, and uttered scream after scream. But before long he stopped, and
at last all became silent. The neck of the mandrill had been torn to
pieces. The rage of Andekko was so great that it took me quite a while
to make him loose his hold.
The mandrill was dead, but poor Andekko was a terrible sight. I said
to him: "Andekko, you are a brave and fearless dog." Then I tore some
strips from my shirt and bandaged his wounds to stop their bleeding.
He had great difficulty in following me, he was so weak. I walked very
slowly. At last we reached the camp, and it was hard to make him go
through the aperture made in the fence for him to go out and come in
at. My hunters had returned, and we all felt sorry for poor Andekko.
He seemed utterly dejected. We made a bed of dry leaves for him to lie
upon, and boiled some monkey meat for him. But when it was done and
offered to him, he refused it. Poor Andekko had the fever, like Ndova,
and, like Ndova, he lingered but a short time. We made a grave for him
outside of the camp at the foot of a tree, and we buried him there.
I cut upon the bark with my knife:
HERE LIES
ANDEKKO THE BRAVE
A FAITHFUL DOG
TO HIS DEATH
[Illustration: "_Andekko had pinned the mandrill down and they were
fighting savagely_."]