CHAPTER XVIII 



PLAIN AND SWAMP 



Only those who have travelled in a desert country 

 will realise my feelings as I gazed at that insignificant 

 white line in the distance, and knew that permanent 

 water was close at hand. With this knowledge a 

 heavy load of anxiety and of responsibility was lifted 

 from my shoulders. In that moment I was filled with 

 true thankfulness, and it seemed as if at last my 

 troubles were over and that the rest of my journey 

 would be easy and pleasant, though many a long mile 

 lay between me and civilisation. 



Eagerly I called on my men to start, and, leading 

 the way, I climbed down the side of the plateau into 

 the valley. On all sides the bush rose like a solid 

 wall, shutting out the view, but the game trail led 

 onwards, marked by broken branches, where giant 

 bodies had forced their way. In our eagerness to 

 reach the swamp, the road seemed interminable, and 

 wound in and out in a most confusing manner, until 

 at length abruptly, without any warning, the bush 

 ceased and we emerged into an open plain. The 

 ground, sandy and bare save for a thin covering of 

 short grass, sloped gently down for a couple of miles 

 until it met the darker green of the reed beds, which 

 stretched in an apparently unbroken line to right and 

 left, as far as the eye could reach. Above the tangled 

 vegetation of the swamps a thin line of thorn-trees 



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