The Hippo Keeps Walking

Natal's quivering blue horizon lay ahead, to the south. The wandering hippo of Zululand who had left his homeland so inexplicably, pounded on, and soon reached the vicinity of the big town of Stanger. On the outskirts of the town stood a large field of sugar cane. This attracted him, and there he feasted in the hippo way, laying waste ten times more than he ate. That succulent plunder was the beginning of real notoriety for him. The local press treated the theft, and the cane owner's wrath, with equal levity, and for some obscure reason tagged the wanderer with the inappropriate name of Hubert.

His immediate past was dealt with at length, and his future movements made the source of imaginative speculation. Papers in outlying towns took up the story, and thereafter his movements were recorded like those of a visiting celebrity. Without hostile attention Hubert took scores of towns, villages, settlements and farms in his southward waddle. After long weeks he reached the vicinity of Durban, where he gained renewed publicity by devastating a large part of a field of cabbages belonging to a group of Hindu market gardeners. With a cavalier disregard of the wild-eyed Hindus' shrieking objections, Hubert completely filled the inner hippo, then waddled to Sea Cow lake, on the Umgeni River, near the Durban city limits. While placidly enjoying himself in the lake, Hubert suddenly found a large part of the world buzzing about his inoffensive ears.

Attracted by the newspaper stories, curious crowds from Durban and the surrounding district began motoring daily to the lake to view the Columbus of Hippodom. Hubert did not seem to mind, although once, when a cameraman ventured too near for a close-up, he did give way to irritation. The result was a slightly nipped but badly frightened photographer. Worse, however, was to come. The authorities of the Johannesburg Zoo, considering the rover fair game, essayed to capture him. Others, with interests in the show game, offered rewards for his capture. All of them tried hard, but Hubert was too much for them, in more senses than one. His big foot was on free soil, and he meant to keep it there. The attempts, however, had happy results for Hubert.

The Natal Provincial Council, possibly realizing his publicity value, proclaimed him a ward of the Province. He was not to suffer let or hindrance, much less physical violence, wherever he chose to roam. The proclamation was no light boon for the three-ton hobo, for it carried with it the freedom of Natal's highways, byways and waterways. Hubert stayed a few more days in the lake, then decided to pay his respects to the city before leaving. His choice of approach was masterly. It was by way of a leisurely saunter through beautiful Victoria Park, justly the pride of the city of Durban. From the park he ambled casually into West Street, Durban's main thoroughfare…

By: davidbunch

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