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116 
AFRICAN GAME TRAILS 
dead to Kermit’s bullet. No animal could have shown 
a more fearless anH temper. It was an old female, 
but small, its w< iid'^ In-ute, a little short of seventy pounds. 
The smallest ieuedr cougar I ever killed was heavier than 
this, and onv w'V) big male cougar which I killed in Colo¬ 
rado was three times the weight. Yet I have never heard of 
any cougar which displayed anything like the spirit and 
ferocity of this little leopard, or which in any way approached 
it as a dangerous foe. It was sent back to camp in com¬ 
pany with the w^ounded beater, after the wounds of the 
latter had been dressed; they were not serious, and he was 
speedily as well as ever. 
The rivers that bounded Juja Farm, not only the Athi, 
but the Nairobi and Rewero, contained hippopotami and 
crocodiles in the deep pools. I was particularly anxious 
to get one of the former, and early one morning Judd and 
I rode oft across the plains, through the herds of grazing 
game seen dimly in the dawn, to the Athi. We reached 
the river, and, leaving our horses, went down into the 
wooded bottom, soon after sunrise. Judd had with him 
a Masai, a keen-eyed hunter, and I my two gun-bearers. 
We advanced with the utmost caution toward the brink 
of a great pool; on our way we saw a bushbuck, but of 
course did not dare to shoot at it, for hippopotami are wary, 
except in very unfrequented regions, and any noise will 
disturb them. As we crept noiselessly up to the steep 
bank which edged the pool, the sight was typically African. 
On the still water floated a crocodile, nothing but his eyes 
and nostrils visible. The bank was covered with a dense 
growth of trees, festooned with vines; among the branches 
sat herons; a little cormorant dived into the water; and 
