220 HUNTING IN THE JUNGLE. 



snouts of tlie hippopotami came to the surface within 

 pistol-shot of the stern. In a moment they were around 

 us, threatening to crush tlie tli warts of our craft and 

 make two moutlifuls of tlie wliole party. We dropped 

 our oars — for fliglit was out of tlie question — and seized 

 our guns. Placing my barrel almost against the eye of 

 the largest, I emptied both barrels into his head, and he 

 sank without a gurgle into the muddy water. Meanwhile 

 the other end of the boat had been less fortunate. The 

 remaining male had fastened his massive jaws in the 

 gunwale and was crunching it like paper, while the 

 Frenchman, the cause of all the danger, was ineffectually 

 belaboring his head with an oar, his empty gun being, of 

 course, useless. 



Luckily for us. one of the party had a loaded rifle and 

 some presence of mind left, and to these hipi^opotamus 

 number two reluctantly yielded, and went to join his 

 friend at the bottom of the muddy river. It is really 

 curious how easily and quickly so huge an animal will 

 die under modern weapons, when you remember what 

 difficulty the ancients experienced in killing large game, 

 and how an entire army was needed to cope with an ele- 

 phant or hippopotamus. But to return to our still rathei 

 unpleasant predicament : before the female could reach 

 us, we were all reloaded and ready for her. She seemed 

 to realize this, for, without waiting for our cordial recep- 

 tion, she turned tail and made for the other shore, leaving 

 a wake behind her like a harbor steamboat. Reaching 



