distance of five or six
paces. At the same time several men threw handfuls of sand into his
enormous eyes. This baffled him more than the lances; he crunched the
shafts between his powerful jaws like straws, but he was beaten by the
sand, and, shaking his huge head, he retreated to the river. During his
sally upon the shore two of the hunters had secured the ropes of the
harpoons that had been fastened in his body just before his charge. He
was now fixed by three of these deadly instruments; but suddenly one
rope gave way, having been bitten through by the enraged beast, who
was still beneath the water. Immediately after this he appeared on
the surface, and, without a moment's hesitation, he once more charged
furiously from the water straight at the hunters, with his huge mouth
open to such an extent that he could have accommodated two inside
passengers. Suleiman was wild with delight, and springing forward lance
in hand, he drove it against the head of the formidable animal, but
without effect. At the same time Abou Do met the hippo sword in hand,
reminding me of Perseus slaying the sea-monster that would devour
Andromeda; but the sword made a harmless gash, and the lance, already
blunted against the rocks, refused to penetrate the tough hide. Once
more handfuls of sand were pelted upon his face, and, again repulsed by
this blinding attack, he was forced to retire to his deep hole and wash
it from his eyes.

Six times during the fight the valiant bull hippo quitted his watery
fortress and charged resolutely at his pursuers. He had broken several
of their lances in his jaws, other lances had been hurled, and, falling
upon the rocks, they were blunted and would not penetrate. The fight had
continued for three hours, and the sun was about to set; accordingly the
hunters begged me to give him the COUP DE GRACE, as they had hauled him
close to the shore, and they feared he would sever the rope with his
teeth. I waited for a good opportunity, when he boldly raised his head
from water about three yards from the rifle, and a bullet from the
little Fletcher between the eyes closed the last act. This spot was not
far from the pyramidical hill beneath which I had fixed our camp, to
which I returned after an amusing day's sport.

The next morning I started to the mountains to explore the limit that I
had proposed for my expedition on the Settite. The Arabs had informed me
that a river of some importance descended from the mounta