Читать книгу Chunky, the Happy Hippo: His Many Adventures онлайн

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“Are you going in again?” asked Mumpy, of her brothers, talking, of course, in the way hippos do.

“No, I’ve been in swimming enough to-day,” said Bumpy. “I’m going back into the jungle and sleep,” for the river where the hippos lived was near a jungle, in which there were elephants, monkeys and other wild animals.

“I’m going in the water once more,” said Mumpy. “I haven’t had enough grass to eat.”

“I haven’t, either,” said Chunky, who was fatter than ever and jollier looking. “I’ll go in with you, Mumpy.”

So the two young hippos walked slowly down to the edge of the deep, muddy river. Far out in the water they could see their father and mother, with the larger animals, having a swim. Chunky and Mumpy walked slowly now, though they could run fast when they needed to, to get away from danger; for though a hippo is fat and seems clumsy, and though his legs are very short, he can, at times, run very fast.

And as they went slowly along, Chunky and Mumpy looked about on all sides of them, and sniffed the air very hard. They were trying to see danger, and also to smell it. In the jungle wild animals can sometimes tell better by smelling when there is danger than by looking. For the tangled vines do not let them see very far among the trees, but there is nothing to stop them from smelling unless the wind blows too hard.