“An officer, wishing one day to put the fidelity of my baboon, Kees, to the test, pretended to strike me.  At this Kees flew in a violent rage, and, from that time, he could never endure the sight of the officer.  If he only saw him at a distance, he began to cry and make all kinds of grimaces, which evidently showed that he wished to revenge the insult that had been done to me; he ground his teeth, and endeavoured, with all his might, to fly at his face, but that was out of his power, as he was chained down.  The offender several times endeavoured, in vain, to conciliate him, by offering him dainties, but he remained long implacable.

[Illustration:  DOG AND BABOON—­Page 185.]

“When any eatables had been pilfered at my quarters, the fault was always laid first upon Kees; and rarely was the accusation unfounded.  For a time the eggs which a hen laid me were constantly stolen away, and I wished to ascertain whether I had to attribute this loss also to him.  For this purpose, I went one morning to watch him, and waited till the hen announced by her cackling that she had laid an egg.  Kees was sitting upon my vehicle; but the moment he heard the hen’s voice he leapt down, and was running to fetch the egg.  When he saw me he suddenly stopped, and affected a careless posture, swaying himself backwards upon his hind legs, and assuming a very innocent look; in short, he employed all his art to deceive me with respect to his design.  His hypocritical manoeuvres only confirmed my suspicions, and, in order in my turn to deceive him, I pretended not to attend to him, and turned my back to the bush where the hen was cackling, upon which he immediately sprang to the place.  I ran after him, and came up to him at the moment when he had broken the egg, and was swallowing it.  Having caught the thief in the fact, I gave him a good beating upon the spot; but this severe chastisement did not prevent his soon stealing fresh-laid eggs again.  As I was convinced that I should never be able to break Kees of his natural vices, and that, unless I chained him up every morning, I should never get an egg, I endeavoured to accomplish my purpose in another manner:  I trained one of my dogs, as soon as the hen cackled, to run to the nest, and bring me the egg without breaking it.  In a few days the dog had learned his lesson; but Kees, as soon as he heard the hen cackle, ran with him to the nest.  A contest now took place between them, who should have the egg; often the dog was foiled, although he was the stronger of the two.  If he gained the victory, he ran joyfully to me with the egg, and put it into my hand.  Kees, nevertheless, followed him, and did not cease to grumble and make threatening grimaces at him, till he saw me take the egg,—­as if he was comforted for the loss of his booty by his adversary’s not retaining it for himself.  If Kees had got hold of the egg, he endeavoured to run with it to a tree, where, having devoured it, he threw down the shells upon his adversary, as if to make game of him.  In that case, the dog returned, looking ashamed, from which I could conjecture the unlucky adventure he had met with.