452 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



was afraid of their detecting our presence by the 

 taint in the air. 



When I had got some short distance above them, 

 I attempted to land, but the Krooman who first 

 got out of the boat sinking up to his thighs in 

 foetid black mud, I pulled a little further up stream, 

 and was carried ashore on the back of Tom Dick, 

 assisted by the rest of the people. 



Although the ground was very false, and I sunk 

 deep into it at every step, I did not get my feet 

 wet, as I had on a pair of Stokes's boots,* and after 

 some scrambling across a swamp, during which one 

 of my people nearly " missed his mess," by stepping 

 on the back of a sleeping crocodile — that he took ^ 

 for a log of wood, until it champed its ugly-looking 



* Stokes — a ci-devant trooper, of the 7th Dragooa Guards, and 

 rather an eccentric character in his -way (as many old soldiers are) 

 — who has established himself in Coventry Street, Piccadilly, is 

 the only man I know who can make a thoroughly waterproof, 

 but comfortable shooting boot. The real article— which is as 

 unlike as possible those ponderous pieces of machinery one sees 

 in shop-windows ticketed "for the Moors" — should be of first- 

 class material, to be serviceable, but light, so as not to fatigue 

 the wearer, and they must also fit well, so as not to gall, cause 

 blisters, and make the feet sore. A well-fitting boot is as necessary 

 to a sportsman as a true shooting rifle. 



