[In the Heart of Africa by Samuel White Baker]@TWC D-Link bookIn the Heart of Africa CHAPTER X 6/29
The hippo now rose to the surface, about ten yards from the hunters, and, jumping half out of the water, he snapped his great jaws together, endeavoring to catch the rope; but at the same instant two harpoons were launched into his side.
Disdaining retreat, and maddened with rage, the furious animal charged from the depths of the river, and, gaining a footing, he reared his bulky form from the surface, came boldly upon the sand-bank, and attacked the hunters open-mouthed. He little knew his enemy.
They were not the men to fear a pair of gaping jaws, armed with a deadly array of tusks; but half a dozen lances were hurled at him, some entering his mouth from a distance of five or six paces.
At the same time several men threw handfuls of sand into his enormous eyes.
This baffled him more than the lances; he crunched the shafts between his powerful jaws like straws, but he was beaten by the sand, and, shaking his huge head, he retreated to the river.
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