eathed freely, but he was too premature. The
hippopotamus reappeared amidst a smother of foam. Its wide-open jaws
closed up on the gunwale of the dug-out.

The canoe listed dangerously. The Birwas still further endangered its
stability by standing upright and raining absolutely ineffectual blows
with their paddles upon the armour-plated head of the amphibian. The
air in the vicinity of the heeling craft was thick with spray and
flying fragments of woodwork.

Raising his pistol von Gobendorff placed the muzzle within an inch of
the hippo's right eye, and fired two shots in quick succession. Then,
without waiting to observe the effect, he put two bullets into the
animal's left eye.

With a stupendous jerk that dipped the badly shattered gunwale under
the water the hippo relaxed its grip and disappeared. Whether mortally
wounded or not there were no means of ascertaining, but the brute was
seen no more.

Throwing their paddles into the bottom of the canoe the two natives,
crouching on the uninjured side to keep the jagged hole above the
surface, plied their gourds frantically in order to get rid of the
quantity of water that had poured over the gunwale. This task having
been completed von Gobendorff noticed with a certain amount of
apprehension that the freeboards betwixt the edge of the gaping hole
and the water was less than four inches.

In the excitement of the encounter the Hun had overlooked the fact that
already the canoe was within the influence of the rapids. The Birwas
had spoken truly--there were cataracts; what was more there was now no
means of avoiding them.

The banks on either hand were still steep and precipitous, while,
undermanned, the heavy canoe could not be propelled against the stream,
the speed of which exceeded five miles per hour and was steadily
increasing as the rapids drew nearer and nearer.

The thunder of the foaming water could now be heard distinctly, as the
canoe, held in the inexorable grip of the swirling torrent, swayed
towards the danger. The two natives realised their peril. Their black
faces were suffused with an ashy grey hue; their eyes were wide open
with fear.

"Paddle backwards!" ordered von Gobendorff, knowing that to attempt to
turn the canoe would mean both loss of time and increased chances of
being immediately swamped.

With every muscle strained to its utmost capacity the Birwas strove
desperately to back up-stream. Anxiously von Gobendorff kept his