It was a camp pet of Colonel Hare's and ran free in camp whenever the colonel was there.

He had captured it when a mere baby in British East Africa.
The troglodyte, with a strange reasoning yet untranslatable, loved the colonel devotedly and followed him about like a dog and with a scent far keener.

So Ahmed and some of the keepers set off in search of the colonel's pet.
He went about the search with only half a heart.

Only a little while before he had received the news of what had happened in the slave mart that afternoon.

It seemed incredible.