258 A FIGHT WITH A HIPPOPOTAMUS 



then to take accurate aim right under his eye, where 

 the bone is thinnest, and the brain can most easily 

 be reached. The bullet he employed was of a very 

 deadly kind, being really an explosive shell in the form 

 of an iron bottle, filled with strong gunpowder, and fitting 

 into a two-ounce rifle. This shell did great execution, and 

 produced instant death. 



One night the party lay encamped by the side of a 

 lake, and a small boat was moored to a grass-covered mud 

 bank, close to the larger vessel. This boat, used as a 

 larder, was full of hippopotamus flesh, which the men 

 considered a great treat, and did not seem to find too 

 tough for their strong white teeth. 



After dinner was over, and the mosquito curtains 

 hung up, the natives dropped off to bed one by one, and 

 soon all was quiet, except for the sentry's steady tramp. 

 Considering the latitude the night was cold, and wrapped 

 in blankets everyone slept more soundly than usual. 

 Suddenly Sir Samuel, who lay on a sofa on the po.op-deck, 

 was roused by the sounds of loud snorting and splashing 

 just below him, and by the light of the moon saw a huge 

 hippopotamus making ready to assault the little, ship. 

 Calling to his servant, Suleiman, to bring a rifle, Baker 

 made his way to the main deck, where the rest of the 

 crew were sleeping ; but the whole place was such a mass 

 of interlaced mosquito strings, that it was very difficult 

 to steer between them so as to wake the men. Mean- 

 while the hippopotamus had not wasted his time. He 

 had sunk the larder boat, and crushed the little ' dingey ' 

 alongside as if it had been a walnut, and was now gather- 

 ing himself together for the larger vessel, caring nothing 

 for the noises made by the natives in the hope of 

 frightening him away. As for Suleiman, he was in 

 such mortal terror that he never remembered that the 

 gun he had brought was unloaded, and that he had for- 

 gotten the charge. 



Thrusting him hastily on one side, his master dashed 



