For tea they had large hunks of home-made cherry cake that Mrs. Eliot had brought, and after tea they decided to set off for the Hippo Pool. They followed the signposts - TO THE HIPPO POOL, 13 MILES - and eventually came to two native huts and still another notice, TO THE HIPPOS.
"I see the Afrikaans name for a hippo is sea-cow," said Belinda. "How sweet!"
"Well," said Eleanor, "we call it river horse."
"We don't!" said Mike indignantly.
"I mean its derivation means river horse," said Eleanor, who knew things like that.
"Cow or horse," said Dr. Eliot, "this is the longest thirteen miles I've ever gone."
From VENTURE TO SOUTH AFRICA, Chapter 12, Big Game.
No comments:
Post a Comment