Upon reaching the pool, which was about a hundred and thirty
yards in diameter, we were immediately greeted by the hippo, who
snorted and roared as we approached, but quickly dived, and the
buoyant float ran along the surface, directing his course in the
same manner as the cork of a trimmer with a pike upon the hook.
Several times he appeared, but, as he invariably faced us, I
could not obtain a favourable shot; I therefore sent the old
hunter round the pool, and he, swimming the river, advanced to
the opposite side, and attracted the attention of the hippo who
immediately turned towards him. This afforded me a good chance,
and I fired a steady shot behind the ear, at about seventy yards,
with a single-barrelled rifle. As usual with hippopotami, whether
dead or alive, he disappeared beneath the water at the shot. The
crack of the ball and the absence of any splash from the bullet
told me that he was hit; the ambatch float remained perfectly
stationary upon the surface. I watched it for some minutes--it
never moved; several heads of hippopotami appeared and vanished
in different directions, but the float was still; it marked the
spot where the grand old bull lay dead beneath.
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