TO THE UASIN GISHU 
347 
drawing water, had been seized by a lion. Snatching up 
a rifle I was off at a run for the swamp, calling for lanterns; 
Kermit and Tarlton joined me, the lanterns were brought, 
and we reached the meadow of short marsh grass which 
surrounded the high reeds in the middle. No sooner were 
we on this meadow than there were loud snortings in the 
darkness ahead of us, and then the sound of a heavy ani¬ 
mal galloping across our front. It now developed that 
there was no lion in the case at all, but that the porters had 
been chased by a hippo. I should not have supposed that 
a hippo would live in such a small, isolated swamp; but 
there he was on the meadow in front of me, invisible, but 
snorting, and galloping to and fro. Evidently he was much 
interested in the lights, and we thought he might charge 
us; but he did not, retreating slowly as we advanced, until 
he plunged into the little pond. Hippos are sometimes 
dangerous at night, and so we waded through the swamp 
until we came to the pool at which the porters filled their 
buckets, and stood guard over them until they were through; 
while the hippo, unseen in the darkness, came closer to us, 
snorting and plunging—possibly from wrath and inso¬ 
lence, but more probably from mere curiosity. 
Next morning Akeley, Tarlton, Kermit, and I started 
on our elephant hunt. We were travelling light. I took 
nothing but my bedding, wash kit, spare socks, and slippers, 
all in a roll of waterproof canvas. We went to where we 
had seen the herd and then took up the trail, Kongoni and 
two or three other gun-bearers walking ahead as trackers. 
They did their work well. The elephants had not been in 
the least alarmed. Where they had walked in single file 
it was easy to follow their trail; but the trackers had hard 
