You pretend to be the best watchdog in Africa, and yet a woman comes into this house under your nose and in the grey of the morning, and you do not see her.

Where is your reputation, Hans ?" The old fellow grew almost speechless with indignation, then he spluttered his answer: "It was not a woman, Baas, but a spook.

Who am I that I should be expected to catch spooks as though they were thieves or rats?
As it happens I was wide awake half an hour before the dawn and lay with my eyes fixed upon that door, which I bolted myself last night.

It never opened, Baas; moreover, since this talk began I have been to look at it.
During the night a spider has made its web from door-post to door-post, and that web is unbroken.

If you do not believe me, come and see for yourself.