CH. XXII 
HIPPO AND LION 
213 
in the direction of the sound, came upon an 
extraordinary sight. A lion, having sprung upon 
a hippopotamus, was tearing fiercely at the poor 
animal’s head with his cruel claws and biting 
him viciously in the region of the ear, while 
the hippo, dazed with the onslaught and blinded 
with the pain, was crashing aimlessly through 
the grass, going round and round in circles, in 
a futile effort to rid himself of his antagonist. 
In the struggle, they got clear of the long 
grass, and came into the open, where I had a 
splendid view of the one-sided contest ; but so 
keen is the scent of a lion that, intent as he 
was on trying to kill his victim, he caught a 
whiff of our scent and, looking round and seeing 
us, dropped from the hippo’s shoulders and made 
swiftly for the long jungle grass. Taking hasty 
aim, I fired, the bullet striking him in the hip 
just as he disappeared, while the hippo, freed 
from his persecutor, rushed madly down to the 
river and plunged into a deep pool. Following 
the animal’s tracks, I came down to the water 
and, about a quarter of an hour afterwards, 
when he rose to the surface to blow, I fired and 
felt sure that the bullet had penetrated his brain 
by the peculiar upward jerk that he gave his head 
and the way he instantly sank. Leaving some of 
my men to wait for his body to float (which 
