158 AFRICAN ADVENTURE STORIES 



colonel and Kermit had run into a herd of 

 hippos and had wounded one of them, which 

 charged through the water. For a few seconds 

 it appeared as though the animal would reach 

 the boat and dump the occupants into the lake, 

 but the colonel's shots, fired into the brute's 

 open mouth, finally killed it and the rest of the 

 herd made off. 



Frequently boats are upset or crushed be- 

 tween the jaws of a hippo, and the hunters are 

 drowned or seriously injured. There is, how- 

 ever, more danger from a hippo in the water 

 than from one on land, for when surprised on 

 land, in daylight, their chief thought seems to 

 be to get back to water as soon as possible. 



After we left Lake Albert and entered the 

 White Nile we found hippos far more abundant 

 than in any other section of Africa we had 

 visited. During the two days' run down the 

 river to "Rhino Camp," and again after we left 

 the camp and were on the way down to Nimule, 

 we saw anywhere from a dozen to fifty hippos 

 every day. 



They were found in ones, twos, and threes, 

 and sometimes as many as a dozen to fifteen 

 were seen at a time. Usually they were float- 



