190 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



told of the journeys of years to the pastures from the pool in 

 this ancestral home of the hippos. As the passage of the 

 boats sent out circles across the still water, black, warted 

 heads rose up and emitted loud snorts of anger at the invaders 

 of their quiet. 



Of course the " boys " were delighted at the sight of so 

 well-stocked a larder, and knives were already being 

 sharpened on the stones and cleaned in the sand when 

 Audelai, the gourmand of the crew, sat down and watched 

 with greedy eyes the bullets spitting the water wherever 

 the head of a hippo appeared. Presently, Grosling's "450 

 and my "303 caused two to plunge out of sight, for both 

 had been hit in the ear, the only place to aim at to kill a 

 hippo. In less than an hour the two bodies floated, and 

 a boat full of excited " boys " pushed out into the stream, 

 and soon two big hippos, a male and female, were pulled 

 by means of ropes on to the edge of the sand-bank. The 

 shooting of hippos is not pleasant sport ; they are so cum- 

 brous and slow that it seems almost like murdering them 

 in their sleep ; but in this case the slaughter was justified, 

 for we were in sore need of meat to make our limited supply 

 of meal hold out. I must confess we enjoyed our dinner of 

 the liver, and the resourceful John discovered milk in the 

 female hippo, and for the first time for many weeks we drank 

 milk in our tea. 



After John had cut off enough meat for our consumption, 

 he men were allowed to take as much as they wanted, and 

 the operation of cutting up went on to a late hour. Next 

 morning the carcases of the hippos, cleaned to their ribs, 

 appeared sticking out of the shallow water hke the derelict 



