There were others in the lake. One day 
we saw two playing together near the shore; 
and at first we were all of us certain that it 
was some big water snake. It was not until 
we were very close that we made out the 
supposed one big snake to be two others; it 
was rather interesting, as giving one of the 
explanations of the stories that always ap¬ 
pear about large water snakes, or similar 
monsters, existing in almost every lake of 
any size in a wild country. On another day 
I shot another near shore; he turned over 
and over, splashing and tumbling; but just 
as we were about to grasp him, he partially 
recovered and dived to safety in the reeds. 
On the second day we went out in the 
launch I got my hippo. We steamed down 
the lake, not far from the shore, for over ten 
miles, dragging the big, clumsy row-boat, 
in which Cuninghame had put three of our 
porters who knew how to row. Then we 
spied a big hippo walking entirely out of 
water on the edge of the papyrus, at the 
farther end of a little bay which was filled 
with water-lilies. Thither we steamed, and 
when a few rods from the bay, Cuning¬ 
hame, Kermit, and I got into the row-boat; 
Cuninghame steered, Kermit carried his 
camera, and I steadied myself in the bow 
with the little Springfield rifle. The hippo 
was a self-confident, truculent beast; it 
went under water once or twice, but again 
came out to the papyrus and waded 
along the edge, its body out of water. We 
headed toward it, and thrust the boat in 
among the water-lilies, finding that the bay 
was shallow, from three to six feet deep. 
While still over a hundred yards from the 
hippo, I saw it turn as if to break into the 
papyrus, and at once fired into its shoul¬ 
der, the tiny pointed bullet smashing the 
big bones. Round spun the great beast, 
plunged into the water, and with its huge 
jaws open came straight for the boat, floun¬ 
dering and splashing through the thick¬ 
growing water-lilies. I think that its chief 
object was to get to deep water; but we 
were between it and the deep water, and in¬ 
stead of trying to pass to one side it charged 
straight for the boat, with open jaws, bent 
on mischief. But I hit it again and again 
with the little sharp-pointed bullet. Once 
S3i 
