de off the bank into the
water, gradually subsiding until the whole disappeared, and then rising
again slowly for air. On the Quissanga river they were very numerous.
Heavy and lumbering looking, none would give these animals credit for
the intelligence they really possess, and yet they will only feed on the
sweetest grasses, and are nearly as cautious and cunning as the
elephant, in avoiding the traps and pitfalls of the natives. They
display a strong and peculiar affection for their young, and though
quiet and peaceable enough, will fight for them.

"See, Wyzinski," said Hughes one evening, as with their rifles in their
hands the two were walking up the banks of the Quissanga river, "look at
that unwieldy young hippopotamus feeding alone. I'll give it a start."

"Take care what you are doing," replied the missionary, who was busy
watching some birds building near the stream.

"Never fear for me," exclaimed the soldier, bent on the fun of cutting
off the lumbering young animal from the water.

Besting his rifle against a tree, Hughes ran to intercept it, which he
easily did, for the ugly little brute did not see him until he was quite
close to it, and then it seemed to lose its head, waddling away towards
the bush, its pursuer shouting and laughing behind. A loud call from
the missionary caused Hughes to turn, and he at once saw that the
situation of matters was reversed. Right up the bank came a very large
female hippopotamus, in pursuit of him. Unarmed, there was nothing for
it but to use his legs, and this he did; but the hippopotamus diverged,
and so the pursuer pursued must cross the line of its advance, for the
bush was too thick to be entered.

It was a question of speed, as the great animal came on, its enormous
mouth wide open and menacing. Slow as its motion appeared, the animal
would have cut off the man, but just as they neared one another, a ball
from Wyzinski's rifle struck it in the open mouth. The hippopotamus
stopped as the breathless soldier dashed by, and seized his rifle, when
a ball hit it right in the eye, and it fell dead.

This animal measured eleven feet six inches in length, add in girth ten
feet five inches. No one of the party ever after this attempted any
trifling with the hippopotami.

The baboon had grown very tame, and had taken a great fancy to Luji.
The two lived together, and seemed inseparable, and whenever it became
tired on the march, it would take its place on his