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the rock with the left foot advanced, and the harpoon
poised in his ready right hand above his head, while
in the left he held the loose coils of rope attached
to the ambatch buoy. For about three minutes he
stood like a statue, gazing intently into the clear
and deep water beneath his feet. I watched eagerly
for the reappearance of the hippo ; the surface of
the water was still barren, when suddenly the right
arm of the statue descended like lightning, and the
harpoon shot perpendicularly into the pool with
the speed of an arrow. What river-fiend answered
to the summons ? In an instant an enormous pair
of open jaws appeared, followed by the ungainly
head and form of the furious hippopotamus, who,
springing half out of the water, lashed the river into
foam, and, disdaining the concealment of the deep
pool, he charged straight up the violent rapids.
With extraordinary power he breasted the descending
stream ; gaining' a footing in the rapids,
about five feet deep, he ploughed his way against
the broken waves, sending them in showers of
spray upon all sides, and upon gaining broader
shallows he tore along through the water, with
the buoyant float hopping behind him along the
surface, until he landed from the river, started at
full gallop along the dry shingly bed, and at length
disappeared in the thorny nabbuk jungle.
I never could have imagined that so unwieldy
an animal could have exhibited such speed : no man
would have had a chance of escape, and it was
z