I Heard Their Abominable Whiffing Close To Me, But So Did My Good
Horse, And The Good Old Hunter Flew Over Obstacles In A Way I Should
Have Thought Impossible, And He Dashed Straight Under The Hooked
Thorn-Bushes And Doubled Like A Hare.
The aggageers were all scattered;
Mahomet No.
2 was knocked over by a rhinoceros; all the men were
sprawling upon the rocks with their guns, and the party was entirely
discomfited.
Having passed the kittar thorn I turned, and, seeing that the beasts had
gone straight on, I brought Aggahr's head round and tried to give chase;
but it was perfectly impossible. It was only a wonder that the horse had
escaped in ground so difficult for riding. Although my clothes were of
the strongest and coarsest Arab cotton cloth, which seldom tore, but
simply lost a thread when caught in a thorn, I was nearly naked. My
blouse was reduced to shreds. As I wore sleeves only half way from the
shoulder to the elbow, my naked arms were streaming with blood.
Fortunately my hunting-cap was secured with a chin strap, and still more
fortunately I had grasped the horse's neck; otherwise I must have been
dragged out of the saddle by the hooked thorns. All the men were cut and
bruised, some having fallen upon their heads among the rocks, and others
had hurt their legs in falling in their endeavors to escape. Mahomet No.
2, the horse-keeper, was more frightened than hurt, as he had been
knocked down by the shoulder and not by the horn of the rhinoceros, as
the animal had not noticed him; its attention was absorbed by the horse.
I determined to set fire to the whole country immediately, and
descending the hill toward the river to obtain a favorable wind, I put
my men in a line, extending over about a mile along the river's bed, and
they fired the grass in different places. With a loud roar the flame
leaped high in air and rushed forward with astonishing velocity. The
grass was as inflammable as tinder, and the strong north wind drove the
long line of fire spreading in every direction through the country.
CHAPTER X.
A day with the howartis - A hippo's gallant fight - Abou Do leaves
us - Three yards from a lion - Days of delight - A lion's furious
rage - Astounding courage of a horse.
A LITTLE before sunrise I accompanied the howartis, or
hippopotamus-hunters, for a day's sport. At length we arrived at a large
pool in which were several sand-banks covered with rushes, and many
rocky islands. Among these rocks was a herd of hippopotami, consisting
of an old bull and several cows. A young hippo was standing, like an
ugly little statue, on a protruding rock, while another infant stood
upon its mother's back that listlessly floated on the water.
This was an admirable place for the hunters. They desired me to lie
down, and they crept into the jungle out of view of the river. I
presently observed them stealthily descending the dry bed about two
hundred paces above the spot where the hippos were basking behind the
rocks. They entered the river and swam down the centre of the stream
toward the rock. This was highly exciting. The hippos were quite
unconscious of the approaching danger, as, steadily and rapidly, the
hunters floated down the strong current. They neared the rock, and both
heads disappeared as they purposely sank out of view; in a few seconds
later they reappeared at the edge of the rock upon which the young hippo
stood. It would be difficult to say which started first, the astonished
young hippo into the water, or the harpoons from the hands of the
howartis! It was the affair of a moment. The hunters dived as soon as
they had hurled their harpoons, and, swimming for some distance under
water, they came to the surface, and hastened to the shore lest an
infuriated hippopotamus should follow them. One harpoon had missed; the
other had fixed the bull of the herd, at which it had been surely aimed.
This was grand sport! The bull was in the greatest fury, and rose to the
surface, snorting and blowing in his impotent rage; but as the ambatch
float was exceedingly large, and this naturally accompanied his
movements, he tried to escape from his imaginary persecutor, and dived
constantly, only to find his pertinacious attendant close to him upon
regaining the surface. This was not to last long; the howartis were in
earnest, and they at once called their party, who, with two of the
aggageers, Abou Do and Suleiman, were near at hand. These men arrived
with the long ropes that form a portion of the outfit of hippo hunting.
The whole party now halted on the edge of the river, while two men swam
across with one end of the long rope. Upon gaining the opposite bank, I
observed that a second rope was made fast to the middle of the main
line. Thus upon our side we held the ends of two ropes, while on the
opposite side they had only one; accordingly, the point of junction of
the two ropes in the centre formed an acute angle. The object of this
was soon practically explained. Two men upon our side now each held a
rope, and one of these walked about ten yards before the other. Upon
both sides of the river the people now advanced, dragging the rope on
the surface of the water until they reached the ambatch float that was
swimming to and fro, according to the movements of the hippopotamus
below. By a dexterous jerk of the main line the float was now placed
between the two ropes, and it was immediately secured in the acute angle
by bringing together the ends of these ropes on our side.
The men on the opposite bank now dropped their line, and our men hauled
in upon the ambatch float that was held fast between the ropes.
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