TO LAKE NAIVASHA 
223 
I did not wish to shoot again unless I had to, and stood 
motionless, with the little Springfield at the ready. A head 
burst up twenty yards off, with a lily pad plastered over one 
eye, giving the hippo an absurd resemblance to a discom¬ 
fited prize-fighter, and then disappeared with great agita¬ 
tion. Two half-grown beasts stupid from fright appeared, 
and stayed up for a minute or two at a time, not knowing 
what to do. Other heads popped up, getting farther and 
farther away. By degrees everything vanished, the water 
grew calm, and we rowed over to the papyrus, moored our¬ 
selves by catching hold of a couple of stems, and awaited 
events. Within an hour four dead hippos appeared: a very 
big bull and three big cows. Of course, I would not have 
shot the latter if it could have been avoided; but under the 
circumstances I do not see how it was possible to help it. 
The meat was not wasted; on the contrary it was a god¬ 
send, not only to our own porters, but to the natives round 
about, many of whom were on short commons on account 
of the drought. 
Bringing over the launch we worked until after dark 
to get the bull out of the difficult position in which he lay. 
It was nearly seven o’clock before we had him fixed for 
towing on one quarter, the row-boat towing on the other, 
by which time two hippos were snorting and blowing within 
a few yards of us, their curiosity much excited as to what 
was going on. The night was overcast; there were drench¬ 
ing rain squalls, and a rather heavy sea was running, and I 
did not get back to camp until after three. Next day the 
launch fetched in the rest of the hippo meat. 
From this camp we went into Naivasha, on the line of 
the railway. In many places the road was beautiful, lead- 
