116 AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 



dead to Kermit's bullet. No animal could have shown 

 a more fearless and resolute temper. It was an old female, 

 but small, its weight being a little short of seventy pounds. 

 The smallest female cougar I ever killed was heavier than 

 this, and one very big male cougar which I killed in Colo- 

 rado was three times the weight. Yet I have never heard of 

 any cougar which displayed anything like the spirit and 

 ferocity of this little leopard, or which in any way approached 

 it as a dangerous foe. It was sent back to camp in com- 

 pany with the wounded beater, after the wounds of the 

 latter had been dressed; they were not serious, and he was 

 speedily as well as ever. 



The rivers that bounded Juja Farm, not only the Athi, 

 but the Nairobi and Rewero, contained hippopotami and 

 crocodiles in the deep pools. I was particularly anxious 

 to get one of the former, and early one morning Judd and 

 I rode off across the plains, through the herds of grazing 

 game seen dimly in the dawn, to the Athi. We reached 

 the river, and, leaving our horses, went down into the 

 wooded bottom, soon after sunrise. Judd had with him 

 a Masai, a keen-eyed hunter, and I my two gun-bearers. 

 We advanced with the utmost caution toward the brink 

 of a great pool; on our way we saw a bushbuck, but of 

 course did not dare to shoot at it, for hippopotami are wary, 

 except in very unfrequented regions, and any noise will 

 disturb them. As we crept noiselessly up to the steep 

 bank which edged the pool, the sight was typically African. 

 On the still water floated a crocodile, nothing but his eyes 

 and nostrils visible. The bank was covered with a dense 

 growth of trees, festooned with vines; among the branches 

 sat herons; a little cormorant dived into the water; and 



