486 A HUNTER'S WANDERINGS ch. 



other. We might have crept down to the edge of 

 the water and fired upon them, as they stood from 

 within a hundred yards, but both Jameson and myself 

 felt it would not be quite the thing to do so, and 

 preferred to let them get into the river, where, as 

 the pool a little below them was both broad and long, 

 they would have a fair chance for life. At length 

 they heard us talking, and commenced, one after the 

 other, to walk into the river. When their bodies 

 were half immersed they let themselves down with a 

 splash, and either swam into deep water with just 

 the tips of their heads out, or dived out of sight at 

 once ; I suppose there must have been a ledge beside 

 which the water deepened suddenly. There were 

 some quite small calves amongst them, and these 

 little beasts all ran into the water with a splash, whilst 

 the full-grown animals stepped in slowly and sedately. 

 As we only wished to kill two, which would furnish 

 us with a sufficient supply ot fat meat to last us on 

 our way back to the waggons, and were anxious not 

 to wound any more, we were a longtime before firing 

 a shot. At length, however, finding themselves un- 

 disturbed, they gained more confidence and kept their 

 heads longer above water, so that a little before sun- 

 down we each struck a large cow fair in the head. 

 Jameson caught his under the ear, whilst I shot mine 

 from behind, right between the ears. They sank 

 at once, and though we thought we had killed them 

 we were not absolutely sure, and as the carcases 

 would not rise for several hours the question could 

 not be settled before the morrow. 



At daylight the next morning we were at the 

 water's edge, and at once saw that two dead hippo- 

 potami had floated to the top during the night ; all 

 the rest of the herd had taken advantage of the 



