This Happened To Be One Of Those Fortunate Shots That
Consoles You For Many Misses, And The Saucy Old Hippo
Turned upon
his back and rolled about in tremendous struggles, lashing the
still and deep pool into waves, until he
At length disappeared.
We knew that he was settled; thus my people started off towards
the village, and in a marvellousiy short time a frantic crowd of
Arabs arrived with camels, ropes, axes, knives, and everything
necessary for an onslaught upon the hippo, who, up to this time,
had not appeared upon the surface. In about an hour and a half
from the time he received the bullet, we discovered his carcase
floating about two hundred yards lower down the river. Several
heads of large crocodiles appeared and vanished suddenly within
a few feet of the floating carcase, therefore the Arabs
considered it prudent to wait until the stream should strand the
body upon the pebbly shallows about half a mile below the pool.
Upon arrival at that point, there was a general rush, and the
excited crowd secured the hippo by many ropes, and hauled it to
the shore. It was a very fine bull, as the skin without the head
measured twelve feet three inches. I had two haunches kept for
the sheik, and a large quantity of fat, which is highly and
deservedly prized by the Arabs, as it is the most delicate of any
animal. Those portions secured, with a reserve of meat for
ourselves, the usual disgusting scene of violence commenced, the
crowd falling upon the carcase like maddened hyaenas.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 252 of 556
Words from 68261 to 68525
of 151461
