sat [down comfortably, and slid into the water 

 launching himself with scarce a ripple just like 

 'an old hippo. That gave us the explanation of 

 Tsetse's tantrum : the water came up to the seat of 

 my saddle and walking was only just possible. I 

 stopped at once, waiting for Tsetse to follow ; and 

 Hall, prepared for another refusal, sat back and again 

 used his spurs. No doubt Tsetse, once he knew the 

 depth, was quite satisfied and meant to go in quietly, 

 and the prick of the spur must have been unexpected, 

 for he gave a plunge forward, landing with his fore 

 feet in deep water and hind quarters still on the bank, 

 and Hall shot out overhead, landing half across old 

 Snowball's back. There was a moment of ludicrous 

 but agonised suspense ! Hall's legs were firmly grip- 

 ping Tsetse behind the ears while he sprawled on his 

 stomach on Snowball's crupper, with the reins still in 

 one hand and the rifle in the other. Doubled up with 

 suppressed laughter I grabbed a fist full of shirt and 

 held on, every moment expecting Tsetse to hoist his 

 head or pull back and complete the disaster, while 

 Hall was spluttering out directions, entreaties and 

 imprecations ; but good old Tsetse never moved, and 

 Hall handing me the rifle managed to swarm back- 

 wards on to Tsetse's withers and scramble on to the 

 pack again. 



Then, saddle-deep in the river duckings and 

 crocodiles forgotten we sat looking at each other 

 and laughed till we ached. 



The river was about three hundred yards wide 

 there with a good sandy bottom and of uniform depth, 



3H 



