Hippopotamus 



down the line. I was likely to have some 

 difficulty with my cook, Tom, whom, in the 

 ordinary way, I meant to send back to the West 

 Coast on my return to Cape Town, but as he was 

 offered, and accepted, the post of cook at the 

 Fontesvilla Hotel, I was unwilling to stand in 

 the way of his making good money, so I left him 

 there, and have no doubt that he gave every 

 satisfaction. He should have been able to save 

 quite a nice little sum if he were careful, enough 

 to start him in a small way on his return to his 

 own country. 



On our way down-river the steamer stuck on 

 a sand-bank, and as the tide was still falling, it 

 meant a wait of three or four hours before she 

 would again be afloat. Coudenhove and I 

 therefore took a boat and some boys as crew, 

 proceeding up a small tributary. On our return 

 an hour or so later, when almost within sight of 

 the steamer, our small boat got aground. Do 

 what we would we could not get her off into the 

 channel, so there was nothing to do but wait 

 for the turn of the tide with the best grace 

 possible. We had been here only a short time 

 when a hippopotamus appeared out of the river 

 a hundred yards off, and casually remained in 

 full view standing on one of the sand-banks. 

 My rifles were all packed up, so I took Couden- 

 hove's *577 and fired at the beast's shoulder. 

 Now, this rifle was built on a particular pattern 



