I only had the "Dutchman," and my attendant Monsoor carried a snider
rifle; thus we were badly armed for so impenetrable a beast. I fired
just in front of the ear, certainly within fifteen feet. The only effect
produced was a shake of his head, and he appeared rather stupid, as
though stunned. The left-hand barrel followed quickly upon the right.
Monsoor fired with his snider. The "Dutchman," being a breechloader, was
ready again, and we fired into this stupid-looking brute as though he
had been a target, and with about the same effect.
Suddenly, as though we had just awakened him, he turned round and bolted
into a dense mass of thorns, about thirty paces before us.
In the mean time, the troops at the vessels, that were within about 300
paces, having heard the rapid and continued firing, supposed that I had
been attacked by the natives. The "Forty Thieves" rushed to the rescue.
I heard the bugle, and presently the voices of the men as they
approached, running through the bush at full speed. The hippopotamus had
moved from his thorny retreat, and was walking slowly forward, when he
was stumbled against by "The Forty," some of whom literally ran against
him.
The animal appeared quite stunned and stupid, and he merely stood and
stared at his new assailants. The sight was perfectly ridiculous. Every
rifle was fired into him; but the hollow bullets of the sniders had no
penetration, and we might as well have peppered the stone bulls of
Nineveh, in the British Museum. At length, after having been the centre
of a blaze of fireworks, as every man did his best to kill him during
the space of about a minute, he coolly approached the edge of the cliff,
which was quite perpendicular and about eighteen feet high.
A tremendous splash was the end of the encounter, as the hippo committed
himself to the deep, with a clumsy jump from the midst of the
disappointed soldiers.
I was constantly annoyed by the want of penetration of the Boxer hollow
bullets. The "Dutchman" carried three drachms of No. 6-grain powder,
which should have driven a solid bullet through a large antelope; but
the hollow Boxer projectile invariably disappeared in small fragments
upon striking a bone; or it expanded, and had no further penetrating
power after striking a thick hide.
The sniders, although admirable military weapons, possessed a very small
power of penetration. I have frequently seen the bodies of natives with
only one bullet-mark; and I have extracted bullets that ought to have
passed completely through.
My "Forty Thieves" were now proud of themselves as experienced in
various sports, and they were terribly disgusted at the escape of the
hippopotamus. They were never idle for a single day. If no other work
was on hand, I practised them at the target, or they were treated to a
few hours' drill.
