mood to
again risk the puncturing of his hide by that upright horn.

"Meanwhile the stupid old hippo, who usually wanted nothing more than
his grub and his bath, lumbered around looking for further trouble. He
found it; he interfered between the wild asses and the zebras, and soon
the whole bunch, both sides, were bombarding him with their hind feet.
He squealed and groaned and growled, but to no end.

"They backed up to him and thumped him with their hoofs, as many as
could get near him. It was a beautiful exhibition of the law of the
brotherhood of man and the brotherhood of beast. Those equine
propagandists of the law of the survival of the fittest kicked that
poor, peaceful old hippo into a condition of coma.

"At last he lay down, with his head between his paws, and gave it up;
then the kickers ceased kicking him and resumed their kicking of each
other.

"By this time the python and the boa had gathered in about three feet
of each other; the wolves and hyenas--two against one, understand--had
reduced their number by half, and the lion was still pretending to
fight the rhino.

"He still found it best to dodge that upright tusk, while his claws and
teeth couldn't even scratch the rhino's impervious hide.

"Then he got it from another quarter. The porcupines had climbed up,
and one was nosing round the deck, attending to his own affairs--which
seemed to be nothing more than an intention to find out where he
was--when he got between these two. He suddenly balled himself up,
turned round a couple of times, and then fired a volley of his quills.

"They went, straight and true, right into that open hole between the
lion's forelegs. He stood on his hindfeet for a moment, bellowing and
roaring, while he tried to brush them out; then he slunk forward again
and hid behind the house. But we heard his occasional snarls of pain.

"Meanwhile the porcupine had opened fire on the rhino, but did him no
harm; and rhino was too big-minded to notice him. He lumbered round,
looking for a match with something, but not finding it; even the
kickers got out of his way, and the poor old hippo wandered forward to
commune with the lion.

"Not finding an antagonist worthy of his horn, the rhino began nosing
the two mutual-minded snakes. He tossed them 'round, and they were
helpless to resist--only the rough handling seemed to induce increased
swallowing power. We could see their jaws working convulsively; and
inch by inch, foot by fo