A TERRIBLE DAYS MARCH 



guided to fall away from us. The trunk was some twenty 

 inches in diameter at the base, so it required two of us at 

 work with the axes, as I was anxious that no further time 

 should be lost in making a fire of larger dimensions than we 

 generally had, so that the wanderers might know where 

 to make for. With an ominous crackling and a groan 

 the tree came down with a crash, and nearly caught the 

 boys clinging on to the ropes. In a few moments they 

 swarmed all over it with axes and knives, cutting off the 

 branches, which were triumphantly borne to the centre of 

 the camp and placed in a pile by the fire. In a few 

 minutes a huge fire with long tongues of flame shot 

 heavenwards, blazing merrily away. A cool breeze 

 sighed through the trees like the lap of the sea on a low- 

 tide beach, and the air had a feeling of rain about it. 

 Pishi managed to cook some meat and potatoes, for which 

 I was thankful. This with a glass of stiff hot whisky 

 soon put heart into me. Salem came to tell me that 

 the boys had little or no food to eat. Fortunately, this 

 was soon remedied by the supply of matamma and meat 

 that I carried for such contingencies. When the boys had 

 lit the fire they lay down to a man around it and all were 

 fast asleep in a few minutes, for every one was done up. 

 Imagine, if you can, carrying a load of seventy-five and 

 in some cases one hundred pounds on your head through 

 a swamp, slowly threading your way through tangled 

 and trampled grass deep in stagnant stinking water, full of 

 decomposed insect and bird life, thorns and prickly plants 

 tearing your flesh from head to foot. Many of the boys 

 had perforce to drink the crawling water. Not a bite 

 passed our lips from noon to late at night, and now that 

 we were again on terra firma the reaction of the terrible 

 experiences of the day began to make itself felt by one 

 and all. Huge bats flitted above our heads, so close 

 that the very smell from them poisoned the surrounding 

 air. Around the great fire the half-naked porters, worn 



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