\\ith I'lashlight and Rifle »^ 



The great rounded mass of flesh lay motionless upon 

 the sand-bank. The dark stream must haxe carried down 

 some particles of the animal's blood, for soon I saw a 

 crocodile's snout pop up, then several others, above the 

 smooth surface lower down wlu:re thci water was deeper, 

 and then disappear again. 



In a surprisingly short time a large crocodile, more 

 than four yards in length, came into sight, gave a look 

 round, disappeared again in the water, and then scrambled 

 up alongside the body of the hippopotamus. The danger- 

 ous-looking beast coming right out of the rushing stream 

 presented a sinister sight. P)Ut now I involuntarily took 

 a step back as I saw his terrible jaws open wide and 

 begin to tear eagerly at the hippopotamus's flesh. 



I kept myself hidden, however, and was thus enabled 

 to witness the wonderful spectacle of more than twenty 

 crocodiles, all nearh the same size, emerging Irom the 

 water a few yards away from me and begin tugging 

 the hipi)Opotamus this way and that. They could not 

 bite through the hard impenetrable skin. They got away 

 an ear and part of the snout and the tail — that was 

 all. Not until |)utrefaction began to set in, as it cioes so 

 astonishingly quickly in the tropics, did their biles begin 

 to take effect. 



These huge brutes, fighting and tumbling over each 

 other in thctir lust for the prey, were a sight not easily 

 to b(t forgotten. P)Ul they were gradually tlragging the 

 hip[)opotamus dcjwii, and I began to tear it might be 

 swept away by the stream, and thus be lost to me. 

 There is no^fobject in shooting hippopotamuses in a big 



274 



