THE BIG GAME OF AFRICA 



same time my men began to pull in the line. Just imagine 

 our surprise when, in the middle of the stream, the line 

 suddenly parted, and the big hippo shot downstream at a 

 tremendous speed. It had not gone far, however, until 

 it struck a rock, standing out just at the beginning of the 

 rapids. Here the body was almost doubled from the force 

 of the stream, which held it fast against the rock. 



Now, there was only one way of reaching our trophy 

 and that was for some one with a rope to throw himself in 

 the pool and let the stream take him down to the hippo. 

 This was not quite so dangerous in a certain way, because 

 there was no other hippo in the pool, and there were no 

 crocodiles in this place; but the men, fearing the force of 

 the water, again refused. Again I had to seize the rope 

 myself and jump into the water, the next moment being 

 hurled with great force against the side of the hippo, which 

 was fortunately soft enough not to injure me, the carcass 

 lying with the back down and the feet in the air. 



I realized now that it was impossible to save the whole 

 hippo, for the current was too strong; so I fastened the 

 rope around his under jaw, behind the big tusks, shouting 

 to the men to tightly fasten the other end around a tree 

 which stood at the water's edge. My gun bearer and two 

 of the natives now volunteered to slide down the rope with 

 an ax to help me cut off the head, so that we could, at 

 least, save that for a trophy. One by one they shot down 

 along the rope and reached me in safety. Mwalimu car- 

 ried the big American ax. When everything was ready 

 and only the vertebrae of the neck needed to be severed to 

 separate the head from the body, I again went into the 

 water and, with great efforts, succeeded in hauling myself 



100 



