341 
ch. xn] CHASED BY A HIPPO 
44 Where is George Ade ?” for if one unexpectedly meets 
an American cartoonist on a hunting trip in mid-Africa 
there seems no reason why one should not also see his 
crony, an American playright. A year previously 
Mr. and Mrs. Akeley had lunched with me at the 
White House, and we had talked over our proposed 
African trips. Akeley, an old African wanderer, was 
going out with the especial purpose of getting a group 
of elephants for the American Museum, and was 
anxious that I should shoot one or two of them for him. 
I had told him that I certainly would if it were a 
possibility ; and on learning that we had just seen a 
herd of cows he felt—as I did—that the chance had 
come for me to fulfil my promise. So we decided that 
he should camp with us that night, and that next 
morning we would start with a light outfit to see 
whether we could not overtake the herd. 
An amusing incident occurred that evening. After 
dark some of the porters went through the reeds to get 
water from the pond in the middle of the swamp. I 
was sitting in my tent when a loud yelling and scream¬ 
ing rose from the swamp, and in rushed Kongoni to say 
that one of the men, while 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 sur¬ 
rounded 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 animal galloping across our front. It turned out 
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, 
