Page:Harris Dickson--Old Reliable in Africa.djvu/152

 Sodom apple bushes. Then forgot, trudging along with his head down, studying an excuse to give the Colonel for losing the bucket and failing to bring fresh water. At a distance the black speck from which the light proceeded had been nothing more than a blur upon the sand. Gradually it began to disintegrate into separate specks which resembled haystacks; other black specks seemed to be moving about among them. Zack drew nearer. A pack of dogs dashed out, not exactly dogs, but ghosts of dogs, or skeleton dogs—dogs which were all legs and mouths, with tails so incredibly slender that they looked like a succession of knots tied in a plow-line. These dogs never barked, and Zack distrusted their intentions; he was scared of dogs that didn't bark and niggers that didn't brag. It gave Zack a crick in the neck trying to watch all the dogs at once. Eagerly he looked around for a brickbat. Bricks don't grow in the desert, and Zack hated to fool away his time throwing loose sand. He couldn't run from those limber-legged gallinippers, so he slapped about him with his wide brimmed hat, and yelled, and yelled, and yelled.

A black speck straightened up from in front of a ragged tent. The speck became a man who ran toward him, shouting gibberish, and Zack had a hunch that he wasn't going to be popular with