The Arabs Knew Nothing About Guns, Or Their Effect Upon Elephants, And I Felt Quite Sure That A Few Nights With The Heavy Rifles Would Very Soon Scare Them From The Fields.

I return to my journal.

"November 7.--In the middle of last night I was disturbed by the Arabs, who begged me to get up and shoot the elephants that were already in the plantations. This I refused to do, as I will not fire a shot until they call in their watchers, and leave the fields quiet. A few nights ago there was a perfect uproar from a score of watchers, that prevented the elephants from coming at the very time that the people had induced me to pass the whole night in the fields. I have arranged that the sheik shall call in all these watchers, and that they shall accompany me to-morrow night. I will then post myself in the centre of the plantations, dividing the men into many parties at all points, to return quietly to me and report the position that the elephants may have taken.

"This morning I purchased a kid for two piastres (five pence). The sheik is exceedingly civil, and insists upon sending me daily supplies of milk and vegetables.

"This afternoon, accompanied by my wife, I accepted an invitation to shoot a savage old bull hippopotamus that had been sufficiently impertinent to chase several of the natives. He lived in a deep and broad portion of the river, about two miles distant. We accordingly rode to the spot, and found the old hippo at home. The river was about 250 yards wide at this place, in an acute bend that had formed a deep pool. In the centre of this was a mud bank, just below the surface; upon this shallow bed the hippo was reposing. Upon perceiving us he was exceedingly saucy, snorting at my party, and behaving himself in a most absurd manner, by shaking his head and leaping half-way out of the water. This plunging demonstration was intended to frighten us. I had previously given Bacheet a pistol, and had ordered him to follow on the opposite bank from the ford at Wat el Negur. I now hallooed to him to fire several shots at the hippo, in order to drive him, if possible, towards me, as I lay in ambush behind a rock in the bed of the river. Bacheet descended the almost perpendicular bank to the water's edge, and after having chaffed the hippo considerably, he fired a shot with the pistol, which was far more dangerous to us on the opposite side than to the animal. The hippo, who was a wicked solitary old bull, accustomed to have his own way, returned the insult by charging towards Bacheet with a tremendous snorting, that sent him scrambling up the steep bank in a panic, amidst a roar of laughter from the people on my side concealed in the bushes. In this peal of merriment I thought I could distinguish a voice closely resembling that of my wife.

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