I Am Glad To Say, However, That Owing
To The Establishment Of Several Mission Stations
Amongst Them, The Wa Kamba
Are quickly
becoming the most civilised natives in the
country; and the missionaries have adopted the
sensible course of teaching
The people husbandry
and the practical arts and crafts of everyday life,
in addition to caring for their spiritual needs.
CHAPTER XII
A NIGHT AFTER HIPPO
During my stay at Tsavo I made many
little excursions into the surrounding country,
and used to go off on a short shooting and
exploring expedition whenever I had the
opportunity. I was especially anxious to bag
a hippopotamus, so I made up my mind to try
my luck on the banks of the Sabaki.
Unfortunately, I possessed no heavy rifle, which is
almost a necessity for hippo shooting, but it
occurred to me to supply the deficiency by
manufacturing a few cartridges for my
smoothbore. In these I had double charges of powder
and a hardened bullet made of lead mixed
with about an eighth part of tin. I well
remember the anxiety with which I fired the first
round of my home-made ammunition. As I more
than half expected that the barrel would burst, I
lashed the gun in the fork of a tree, tied a piece
of string a hundred feet long to the trigger, and
then - taking shelter behind a friendly stump -
pulled off. To my great satisfaction the barrel
stood the test perfectly. More than that, on
trying the penetrative effect of my bullets, I found
that they would smash through a steel plate an
eighth of an inch thick at thirty yards' range.
This was quite good enough for my purpose,
and gave me great confidence in the weapon.
All the same, I had a very narrow escape one
day while manufacturing some of this ammunition.
My plan was to remove the shot from the cartridge,
put in the additional powder, and ram this well
in before replacing the wad and putting in the
bullet.
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