THE HIPPOPOTAMUS, OR RIVER HORSE 



that he would not be able to disappear in the bush on 

 either side. 



After almost an hour of impatient waiting, the big 

 head suddenly appeared right in the middle of the pool. 

 As I had been ready for an emergency of this kind, I fired 

 instantly, but it seemed both to me and the gun bearer, 

 who stood close behind, as if the hippo had sunk at the very 

 moment I fired, so that the bullet had hit the water right 

 over the head instead of the head itself. Still, we were 

 not certain whether I had hit the hippo's head or not, so 

 the only thing to do was to wait for another hour or two. 

 If a hippo has only been wounded, he may swim a great 

 distance away and then put up his nostrils under some 

 kind of cover, where he lies immovable for hours, breath- 

 ing as silently as he can. But when he has been instantly 

 killed, he immediately sinks to the bottom, where the body 

 remains for from half an hour to two or three hours or 

 even more, according to the temperature of the water. 

 The warmer the water is, the sooner the gases form in the 

 intestines of the dead hippo, and these cause the body to 

 rise to the surface, when it can be easily dragged ashore. 

 In this case, however, we waited in vain for over four 

 hours, from the moment I had shot. Although we scanned 

 the pool and all the men watched as carefully as they could, 

 none of us ever saw a sign of the hippo, nor heard any 

 '' snorting," after he had once disappeared. Finally, we 

 had to give up our coveted trophy, for it certainly looked 

 as if it had sunk out of existence. The cunning beast had 

 probably found some safe cover, behind which he lay im- 

 movable, until he was sure his enemies had vanished. 



Colonel Roosevelt, whom I had the pleasure of meet- 



91 



