onster. He was making for a tree, up which he might possibly have
climbed, when his feet slipped, and over he rolled on the ground. He
was now perfectly helpless, and in a few minutes the hippopotamus would
trample him to death. It seemed as if all hope was gone; but, at the
very instant that I thought poor Jan's death was certain, my uncle
suddenly appeared, when, aiming behind the ear of the hippopotamus, he
fired, and the monster fell. Jan narrowly escaped being crushed, which
he would have been had he not by a violent effort rolled out of the way.

Suffering as I was, I could scarcely help laughing at Jan's face, as,
getting up on his knees, he looked with a broad grin at the
hippopotamus, still uncertain whether it was dead or not. At length,
convinced that his enemy could do him no further harm, he rose to his
feet, exclaiming--

"Tankee, tankee, cap'n! If de gun not go off, Jan no speak 'gain."

Then, hurrying on, he examined the creature, to be certain that no life
remained in it.

"What we do wid dis?" he asked, giving the huge body a kick with his
foot.

"As it will shortly become an unpleasant neighbour, we must manage to
drag him away from the camp," observed my uncle. "If the stream were
deep enough, I would drag it in, and let it float down with the current;
but, as it would very likely get stranded close to us, we must haul it
away with the ox and the horses, though I doubt if the animals will like
being thus employed."

I thought the plan a good one; and my uncle told Jan to catch the horses
and ox, while he contrived some harness with the ropes and straps used
for securing their cargoes. The ox showed perfect indifference to the
dead hippopotamus, but the horses were very unwilling to be harnessed.
They submitted, however, to act as leaders, while the ox had the
creature's head, round which a rope was passed, close to its heels.
Even then the animals found it no easy task to drag the huge body along
over the rough ground.

"We shall not be long gone, Fred," said my uncle, placing a rifle and a
brace of pistols close to me. "I hope that no other hippopotamus or
lion or leopard will pay you a visit while we are away. If they do, you
must use these, and I trust that you'll be able to drive off the
creatures, whatever they may be."

I felt rather uncomfortable at being left alone in the camp, but it
could not be helped; and I could only pray that another hippopotamus
might not make its a