Long ropes were fastened to their cages, and they were dipped right down into the salty ocean. This was the first time Chunky or any of the other hippos had been in salt water, for the rivers where they lived in the jungle were of fresh water, though it was muddy. But salt water or fresh is all the same to a hippo, except for taking a drink. They like to swim in one as well as in the other, and often, when the jungle where the hippos live is near the sea, they spend all day in the ocean, near shore and travel inland at night to feed.
So, though it was the first time Chunky had had a salt bath, he and his two friends liked it. In their cages they sank away down on the sandy bottom of the ocean near the shore, closing their nose holes, so as not to swallow any of the briny water.
Short Tooth thought he could break out of his cage while he was in it under water, and he tried, but it was of no use. The black men knew how to make cages strong enough to hold even a young hippo.
“Ah ha! Now I feel fine!” cried Chunky, as they raised his cage out of the ocean, and he puffed and blew out the air from his nose, which he had kept closed under water. “I feel just dandy!”
Of course Chunky didn’t use the word “dandy,” but he used one in animal talk which means the same thing, only it would be too hard for you to pronounce if I put it in here.
“What makes you so happy?” asked one of the monkeys, who sat in his cage near the shore, really shivering, though the day was warm—shivering as he saw how the hippos liked the cool water.
“I am happy because I hope I am going to be in a circus,” said Chunky.
“Well, I’m not!” growled the lion; “though I am feeling a little better since they fed me.”
“Chunky is always happy,” said Gimpy. “He has been jolly ever since I’ve known him.”
“Yes, so he has,” added Short Tooth, as he stood up to let the water drip off him.