Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-09-14

ing prodded the beast again Suddenly he
roSe-but on three feet. His fourth leg the
front left he lifted, as If he wished to spare it.
He had broken his leg when he fell into the
pitt
THE task that now faced me before I could
prepare the pit again was to get the hippo
out of it. Had he not met with this accident
/ should have Gagged him down there, but TO
have Gagged an injured animal would have been
extravagantly laboriouS. Though the boys
eagerly begged to be permitted to spear him,
since he useless for my purposes, to
allow them to do out of the question,
since the scent of hippo blood would have
warned any other animal away from the trap.
1 thought long and carefully and finally
contrived plan.
Taking a long Llama rope two inches thick,
attached large loop of it to a pole, the better
to let it down to the hippo. Standing
plank stretched over the pit, manipulated my
loop for thirty minutes before had it over the
hippos neck. Then handed the ends to forty
boys ranged in two lines back from the edge.
Now pull!' I commanded. Pull hard!
Ready-gol"
They put their strength into it, and the
board that we had placed at the pit edge to
prevent undermining moved unsteadiy the
hippo below wiggled and squirmed and Topped
in rage. But the more he struggled, of course,
the tighter the rope settled about his huge
neck. At last he fell back, strangled, a great,
limp hulk. After that the forty boys easily
lifted him over the side. In an hour we were
towing him behind one of the canoes back to
the village.
examined him to confirm my diagnosis of a
broken leg 1t seemed to me that some pc
culiarity in the fall had been more responsible
than any fault of my pit. But for added pre-
caution I ordered extra six-inch layer of
dried grass to be thrown into each of the
twenty-seven pits.
A GAIN weary wait. made more weary be-
the rainy season had begun. Days
stretched into week. Then more the
news arrived, Bosambo bringing it this time
"Massa, big hippo all down pit for true.
Trigger spring. No humbug."
AT my door I looked upon the incessant rain.
1--WE will wait one time" answered mean
ing we must wait for dry interval
I expected this to come shortly, since at the
beginning of the wet season it never rains con-
tinuousy. But all that day Rugged my hut
while the waters increased. The river ris-
ing fast, and my anxiety about the animal grew
with the deluge.
In the pitiless downpour of daybreak we set
out on our soaking journey, through world
that seemed to be resolved into noisome ooze.
l shall never forget how we tugged up the
bank, slipping, pulling ourselves with our
hands, stepping from hummock to hummock
till we reached the pit.
What we found made my heart ache. The
water was nearly to the top of the pit But
our hippo nowhere, Sick with apprehen-
sion, felt that fate could not be so unkind.
Still, where was he?
I sank a pole into the pit. and on the in
slant came an upheaval of the waters. There
he was gone into secluson, doubtless, when he
heard sloshing up the path. 1t seemed that
a brightness flashed across the wet air; we
looked at one another and smiled.
Then, while stood by, helpless happened
the tragedy. The waters about level
WITH the sides of the pit Suppose" had