and all. We literally gasped.
'What!' we said, 'what! Are you going to put those things on?'

'Certainly,' he answered composedly; 'you see so much depends
upon a first impression" target="_blank" title="n.印刷；印象；效果">impression, especially,' he added, 'as I observe

that there are ladies about. One at least of us ought to be
decently dressed.'

We said no more; we were simply dumbfounded, especially when
we considered the artful way in which Good had concealed the

contents of that box for all these months. Only one suggestion
did we make -- namely, that he should wear his mail shirt next

his skin. He replied that he feared it would spoil the set of
his coat, now carefully spread in the sun to take the creases

out, but finally consented to this precautionary measure. The
most amusing part of the affair, however, was to see old Umslopogaas's

astonishment and Alphonse's delight at Good's transformation.
When at last he stood up in all his glory, even down to the

medals on his breast, and contemplated himself in the still waters
of the lake, after the fashion of the young gentleman in ancient

history, whose name I cannot remember, but who fell in love with
his own shadow, the old Zulu could no longer restrain his feelings.

'Oh, Bougwan!' he said. 'Oh, Bougwan! I always thought thee
an ugly little man, and fat -- fat as the cows at calving time;

and now thou art like a blue jay when he spreads his tail out.
Surely, Bougwan, it hurts my eyes to look at thee.'

Good did not much like this allusion to his fat, which, to tell
the truth, was not very well deserved, for hard exercise had

brought him down three inches; but on the whole he was pleased
at Umslopogaas's admiration. As for Alphonse, he was quite delighted.

'Ah! but Monsieur has the beautiful air -- the air of the warrior.
It is the ladies who will say so when we come to get ashore.

Monsieur is complete; he puts me in mind of my heroic grand --'
Here we stopped Alphonse.

As we gazed upon the beauties thus revealed by Good, a spirit
of emulation filled our breasts, and we set to work to get ourselves

up as well as we could. The most, however, that we were able
to do was to array ourselves in our spare suits of shooting clothes,

of which we each had several, all the fine clothes in the world
could never make it otherwise than scrubby and insignificant;

but Sir Henry looked what he is, a magnificent man in his nearly
new tweed suit, gaiters, and boots. Alphonse also got himself

up to kill, giving an extra turn to his enormous moustaches.
Even old Umslopogaas, who was not in a general way given to

the vain adorning of his body, took some oil out of the lantern
and a bit of tow, and polished up his head-ring with it till

it shone like Good's patent leather boots. Then he put on the
mail shirt Sir Henry had given him and his 'moocha', and, having

cleaned up Inkosi-kaas a little, stood forth complete.
All this while, having hoisted the sail again as soon as we had

finished bathing, we had been progressing steadily for the land,
or, rather, for the mouth of a great river. Presently -- in

all about an hour and a half after the little boat had left us
-- we saw emerging from the river or harbour a large number of

boats, ranging up to ten or twelve tons burden. One of these
was propelled by twenty-four oars, and most of the rest sailed.

Looking through the glass we soon made out that the row-boat
was an official vessel, her crew being all dressed in a sort

of uniform, whilst on the half-deck forward stood an old man
of venerable appearance, and with a flowing white beard, and

a sword strapped to his side, who was evidently the commander
of the craft. The other boats were apparently occupied by people

brought out by curiosity, and were rowing or sailing towards
us as quickly as they could.

'Now for it,' said I. 'What is the betting? Are they going
to be friendly or to put an end to us?'

Nobody could answer this question, and, not liking the warlike
appearance of the old gentleman and his sword, we felt a

little anxious.
Just then Good spied a school of hippopotami on the water about

two hundred yards off us, and suggested that it would not be
a bad plan to impress the natives with a sense of our power by

shooting some of them if possible. This, unluckily enough, struck
us as a good idea, and accordingly we at once got out our eight-bore

rifles, for which we still had a few cartridges left, and prepared
for action. There were four of the animals, a big bull, a cow,

and two young ones, one three parts grown. We got up to them
without difficulty, the great animals contenting themselves with

sinking down into the water and rising again a few yards farther
on; indeed, their excessive tameness struck me as being peculiar.

When the advancing boats were about five hundred yards away,
Sir Henry opened the ball by firing at the three parts grown

young one. The heavy bullet struck it fair between the eyes,
and, crashing through the skull, killed it, and it sank, leaving

a long train of blood behind it. At the same moment I fired
at the cow, and Good at the old bull. My shot took effect, but

not fatally, and down went the hippopotamus with a prodigious
splashing, only to rise again presently blowing and grunting

furiously, dyeing all the water round her crimson, when I killed
her with the left barrel. Good, who is an execrable shot, missed

the head of the bull altogether, the bullet merely cutting the
side of his face as it passed. On glancing up, after I had fired

my second shot, I perceived that the people we had fallen among
were evidentlyignorant of the nature of firearms, for the consternation

caused by our shots and their effect upon the animals was prodigious.
Some of the parties in the boats began to cry out in fear; others

turned and made off as hard as they could; and even the old gentleman
with the sword looked greatly puzzled and alarmed, and halted

his big row-boat. We had, however, but little time for observation,
for just then the old bull, rendered furious by the wound he

had received, rose fair within forty yards of us, glaring savagely.
We all fired, and hit him in various places, and down he went.

We all fired, and hit him in various places, and down he went,
badly wounded. Curiosity now began to overcome the fear of the

onlookers, and some of them sailed on up close to us, amongst
these being the man and woman whom we had first seen a couple

of hours or so before, who drew up almost alongside. Just then
the great brute rose again within ten yards of their base, and

instantly with a roar of fury made at it open-mouthed. The woman
shrieked, and the man tried to give the boat way, but without

success. In another second I saw the huge red jaws and gleaming
ivories close with a crunch on the frail craft, taking an enormous

mouthful out of its side and capsizing it. Down went the boat,
leaving its occupants struggling in the water. Next moment,

before we could do anything towards saving them, the huge and
furious creature was up again and making open-mouthed at the

poor girl, who was struggling in the water. Lifting my rifle
just as the grinding jaws were about to close on her, I fired

over her head right down the hippopotamus's throat. Over he
went, and commenced turning round and round, snorting, and blowing

red streams of blood through his nostrils. Before he could recover
himself, however, I let him have the other barrel in the side

of the throat, and that finished him. He never moved or struggled
again, but instantly sank. Our next effort was directed towards

saving the girl, the man having swum off towards another boat;
and in this we were fortunately successful, pulling her into

the canoe (amidst the shouts of the spectators) considerably
exhausted and frightened, but otherwise unhurt.