to the water, which here
was quite shallow and reached only to our knees, and waded slowly
across. On peering cautiously through the reeds at the corner of the
island, I was surprised to find that I could see nothing of the hippo;
but I soon realised that I was looking too far ahead, for on lowering
my eyes there he was, not twenty-five yards away, lying down in the
shallow water, only half covered and practically facing us. His
closeness to us made me rather anxious for our safety, more especially
as just then he rose to his feet and gave forth the peculiar challenge
or call which we had already heard so often during the night. All the
same, as he raised his head, I fired at it. He whirled round, made a
plunge forward, staggered and fell, and then lay quite still. To make
assurance doubly sure, I gave him a couple more bullets as he lay, but
we found afterwards that they were not needed, as my first shot had
been a very lucky one and had penetrated the brain. We left him where
he fell and got back to our perch, glad and relieved to be in safety
once more.

As soon as it was daylight we were joined by my own men and by several
Wa Kamba, who had been hunting in the neighbourhood. The natives cut
out the tusks of the hippo, which were rather good ones, and feasted
ravenously on the flesh, while I turned my attention with gratitude to
the hot coffee and cakes which Mabruki had meanwhile prepared.

CHAPTER XIII

A DAY ON THE N'DUNGU ESCARPMENT

Immediately after breakfast camp was struck, and accompanied by a few
of the Wa Kamba, we started off for the N'dungu Escarpment--a frowning
ridge which runs for a great distance parallel to the Sabaki, some
three or four miles from its northern bank. We had not gone very far
before I caught sight of a fine waterbuck and successfully bowled him
over--a good omen for the day, which put us all in excellent spirits.
Mabruki cut off several strips of the tough meat and impaled them on a
sharp stick to dry in the sun as he went along. I warned him that he
had better be careful that a lion did not scent the meat, as if it did
it would be sure to follow up and kill him. Of course I did not mean
this seriously; but Mabruki was a great glutton, and by no means
courageous, so I wanted to frighten him.

As we trudged along towards the hill, I heard a peculiar noise behind a
small rising on our right, and on looking over the crest, I was
delighted to see two beautiful giraffe feedi