KILL THREE HIPPOS 



199 



bank, sometimes the other, and finally becran to walk 

 ashore close to where I was waiting. It was rolling like 

 a drunken man, throwing its head from side to side, 

 champing its tusks, and altogether looked such a 

 ferocious object, that, as soon as its body was clear of 

 the water, I fired again at the brain, and it rolled over 

 dead. Almost immediately after, two others rose, and 



Dead Hippo. 



one of these I hit. It behaved much as the first one 

 had done, but was not so violent, and when it staggered 

 out of the water on my side, I went up close and put a 

 bullet into its ear. The school had now moved a little 

 up-stream, and I followed. As one rose to breathe I 

 fired, but missed, the bullet striking the water just as it 

 sank. However, shortly after it showed again, and I 

 fired at the eye. This time it threw its head out of 

 water and sank at once. The two I had first killed 

 were soon rolled ashore, and by the time reinforce- 

 ments from camp arrived, the third had floated in mid- 



