

TO LAKE NAIVASHA 223 



I did not wish to shoot again unless I had to, and stood 

 motionless, with the little Springfield at the ready. A head 

 burst up twenty yards off, with a lily pad plastered over one 

 eye, giving the hippo an absurd resemblance to a discom- 

 fited prize-fighter, and then disappeared with great agita- 

 tion. Two half-grown beasts stupid from fright appeared, 

 and stayed up for a minute or two at a time, not knowing 

 what to do. Other heads popped up, getting farther and 

 farther away. By degrees everything vanished, the water 

 grew calm, and we rowed over to the papyrus, moored our- 

 selves by catching hold of a couple of stems, and awaited 

 events. Within an hour four dead hippos appeared : a very 

 big bull and three big cows. Of course, I would not have 

 shot the latter if it could have been avoided ; but under the 

 circumstances I do not see how it was possible to help it. 

 The meat was not wasted; on the contrary it was a god- 

 send, not only to our own porters, but to the natives round 

 about, many of whom were on short commons on account 

 of the drought. 



Bringing over the launch we worked until after dark 

 to get the bull out of the difficult position in which he lay. 

 It was nearly seven o'clock before we had him fixed for 

 towing on one quarter, the row-boat towing on the other, 

 by which time two hippos were snorting and blowing within 

 a few yards of us, their curiosity much excited as to what 

 was going on. The night was overcast; there were drench- 

 ing rain squalls, and a rather heavy sea was running, and I 

 did not get back to camp until after three. Next day the 

 launch fetched in the rest of the hippo meat. 



From this camp we went into Naivasha, on the line of 

 the railway. In many places the road was beautiful, lead- 



