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Chunky, the Happy Hippo

<h2 id="CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II CHUNKY IS SURPRISED</h2> “Oh, Chunky!” cried Mumpy, as she saw Big Foot rushing at her brother. “Oh, Chunky, come on home!” “Pooh! I’m not afraid of him!” said Chunky, as he stood still on the river bank and looked at the on-rushing Big Foot. “I’ll go and call father,” went on Mumpy, as she waded into the water and began to swim out toward the grown hippos where they were having fun of their own in the river. “I’ll show you that you can’t laugh at me!” grunted Big Foot, who came on as fast as he could. “I’ll bite you and push you into the river, and see how you like that.” “Pooh! I’m not afraid!” said Chunky again, but really he was, a little bit. Of course, if you had been in the jungle, or hidden among the reeds on the bank of the African river, you would not have understood what Chunky and Big Foot said. In fact, you would not even have guessed that they were talking; but they were, all the same, though to you the[18] noises they made would have sounded only like grunts, squeals and puffings. But that is the way the hippos talk among themselves, and they mean the same things you mean when you talk, only a little different, of course. “Oh, look! Big Foot is going to do something to Chunky!” cried the other boy hippos, and they gathered around to see what would happen. For fights often took place among the jungle animals. They did not know any better than to bite, kick and bump into one another when they were angry. “I’ll fix you!” said Big Foot again. “Pooh! I’m not afraid,” answered Chunky once more, just as you may often have heard boys say. To tell the truth, Chunky would have been glad to run away, but he did not like to do it with so many of his young hippo friends looking on. They would have thought him a coward. So he had to stand and wait to see what Big Foot would do. On came the larger hippo boy, and, all of a sudden, when he was quite close to Chunky, he gave a jump and bumped right into him. Chunky tried to get out of the way, but he was not quick enough. The next minute he found himself slipping into the river, for Big Foot had knocked him off[19] the bank. But Chunky did not mind falling into the water. He had been going in anyhow for a swim with his sister. Chunky was not hurt. No water even went up his nose, as it does up yours when you fall into the water. For Chunky could close his nose, as you close your mouth, and not a drop of water got in. “There, I told you I’d fix you for laughing at me!” growled Big Foot, as he stood on the bank and watched Chunky swimming around in the water. “If you laugh at me any more I’ll push you in again!” “Oh, you will, will you?” exclaimed a voice back of Big Foot. “Well, you just let my Chunky alone after this! He can laugh if he wants to, I guess!” And with that Mrs. Hippo, who had quickly swum to shore when Mumpy told her what was going on, gave Big Foot a shove, and into the water he splashed. “Ha-ha!” laughed all the other hippo boys and girls, as they saw what had happened. “Look at Big Foot! Ha-ha-ha!” Big Foot was very angry because Mrs. Hippo had pushed him in. But when he saw all the others laughing at him, he knew that he could not knock them all into the water, as he had knocked Chunky, so he made the best of it. “Ha-ha!” laughed Chunky. “So you’re here[20] too, Big Foot! I saw my mother push you in. She’s awful strong, she is! I hope she didn’t hurt you. She didn’t mean to if she did. Here are some nice sweet grass roots I dived down and pulled up off the bottom of the river. Have some?” and Chunky held out some in his mouth. Now Big Foot liked grass roots very much indeed, as did all the hippos. So, though he still felt a little angry, he took them from Chunky, and when the big boy hippo, with one foot larger than his other three, had swallowed the sweet, juicy roots he felt much better. “They were good,” he said. “Thanks! And say, I hope I didn’t hurt you when I shoved you into the river just now, Chunky.” “No, you didn’t,” Chunky answered. “And I hope my mother didn’t hurt you when she shoved you in.” “Ho! Ho! I should say not!” answered Big Foot, and he laughed now. “I’m sorry I got mad,” he went on. “Come on, have a game of water-tag!” “All right,” said Chunky, “I will. Come on, Mumpy!” he called to his sister. “We’re going to have a game of water-tag.” “Let’s all play!” cried Bumpo, who had not after all gone away. Then he slid down the river bank into the water. “Yes, we’ll all play tag!” chimed in the rest[21] of the hippos, and they were soon swimming and diving about in the water, splashing and bumping into one another almost as you boys and girls play when you go in bathing at the beach in the summer. Only, of course, the hippos, being very big, made heavy splashes. “This is lots of fun!” cried Chunky, as he tagged Bumpy and then dived to get out of the way, for sometimes the hippos “tagged back,” just as you children play. “Yes, it’s jolly fun!” yelled Big Foot. So the animal children swam, splashed and dived in the water, having much more fun than when the one was angry at the other and had pushed him into the river. All of a sudden, Mrs. Hippo, who had stayed on the bank after making Big Foot behave, gave a grunting cry. “Quick!” she called in her own language. “Swim ashore, all you little hippos! Swim ashore, quick!” “What’s the matter?” asked Big Foot. He thought he was too large to mind without first asking questions. “Don’t stop to talk! Swim ashore as fast as you can!” cried Mrs. Hippo. Chunky, Bumpy and Mumpy, her own three children-hippos, did as they were told, and paddled[22] for shore as fast as they could. For, though a hippopotamus is a very big animal and looks very clumsy, there are few as large as he who can swim so well or so fast, or dive so easily. On and on toward shore swam the hippo children, who, a few seconds before, had been playing tag. Last of all came Big Foot. As yet neither he nor any of the others knew why Mrs. Hippo wanted them to come ashore. Big Foot partly turned in the water and looked back. Then he saw what it was. A big crocodile, which is something like an alligator, only with a longer and more slender nose, or snout, its mouth filled with long, sharp teeth, was swimming after the little hippos. “Is that why you wanted us to come ashore?” asked Big Foot of Chunky’s mother, calling to her as he swam toward land. “Yes, indeed it is!” she answered, in her big deep voice. “And don’t stop to ask any more questions! Hurry!” So they all hurried and got safely into shallow water, where the crocodile dared not come, bold and hungry as he was. He thought perhaps big Mrs. Hippo would step on him and smash him. A crocodile can grab hold of a baby hippo, and take it away, but dare not touch a big hippo. So this crocodile, with an angry snap of his teeth,[23] turned and swam back into the middle of the river again, to wait for another chance to grab a tender, baby hippo. “My! how frightened I was!” said Mrs. Hippo, when she saw that her own and the rest of the animal children were safe. “I saw the crocodile coming toward you, but you didn’t see him because you were playing tag so hard.” “It’s a good thing you called to us to swim out of his way,” said Big Foot. “I’m much obliged to you, Mrs. Hippo, and I’m sorry I pushed your Chunky in!” “Oh, you didn’t hurt me!” laughed Chunky, as he stood on the bank and looked out to the middle of the river, where he could just see the nose of the crocodile in the water, as the long animal swam away. And then Chunky had another surprise, for escaping from the crocodile surely was one. All of a sudden, out from the jungle flew a lot of birds, and before the hippos knew what was happening the birds began to settle down on their backs. “Oh, look!” cried Chunky. “What are the birds going to do?” he asked his mother. “Are they going to bite me?” “No; don’t be afraid, silly little hippo boy!” she answered, with a loud laugh. “The birds just came to get the snails and water bugs that[24] are sticking to your back. The river is full of snails, and when you go in to swim they stick to you. The birds like to pick them off and eat them, and that’s what they’re doing now.” And that is just what the birds were doing. Out of the jungle they had flown, and they circled around and lighted, one after another, on the broad, flat backs of Chunky and the other hippo children. The skin of a hippo is very thick—two inches in some places—but there are tender spots where mosquitoes, or bad bugs like that, can bite. But on the backs of the hippos nothing could bite through, and even when the birds picked off the water spiders and snails with their sharp bills the hippos did not feel it. “Isn’t it funny to have birds on your back?” said Chunky to Big Foot. “Oh, it has happened to me before,” said the larger hippo boy. “Of course you’re young yet—you’ve got lots to learn.” “Well, I’m glad the birds can get something to eat off me,” laughed Chunky in his jolly way. He laughed, in his own fashion, more than any of the other hippos, and seemed quite happy, so much so that often, when he was spoken of, he was called “Chunky, the happy hippo.” Here and there fluttered the birds on the backs of the hippos, picking off the water insects, which might get under the folds of the skin of[25] Chunky and his mates and pain them. So the birds not only got a meal for themselves but they helped the animals. After a while all the bugs and snails were picked off and the birds flew back into the jungle. Chunky watched them as they sailed above the tree tops, and then he, too, walked slowly into the deep woods. “Where are you going?” asked his sister. “Oh, off into the jungle to have a sleep,” he answered. “Want to come along?” “No,” she said. “I’m going with some of the other hippo girls to roll in the mud.” So Chunky went into the jungle by himself. On and on among the trees he wandered, making his way through the tangled vines, breaking them off without any trouble, because he was very strong. All at once Chunky heard a funny noise, like a big horn blowing, and, looking up, he saw, standing in front of him, a big animal, much taller than himself. And this animal had two big long white teeth sticking out in front, and he seemed to have two tails, one longer than the other. “Oh dear!” thought Chunky. “This is a terrible beast! I wonder if he will bite me as the crocodile tried to;” and in order to get away, Chunky turned to run back through the jungle. <hr class="chap" /> [26] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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