IN THE LAND OF THE BORA. 143 



CHAPTER XVII. 



That the frontier fort would be our last camp in 

 1894 was something which I had not by any 

 means anticipated, but so it proved. As far as 

 the weather was concerned, we could have easily 

 remained in camp much longer, but two unfore- 

 seen occurrences rendered this impossible. The 

 first was an accident to the tent, which happened 

 in this manner. 



In consequence of the snake nuisance, we had 

 taken to sleeping in the old barrack-room. Not 

 that the brutes were in any way dangerous, nearly 

 all of them being the common green variety, 



but their continual presence acted upon E 's 



nerves. It must be admitted that they are creepy 

 things, and make the idea of sleeping on the 

 floor unpleasant. I have already mentioned two 

 killed the first day. A day or two afterwards 



E saw another lower itself from the sill of 



one of the embrasures on to the window-sill. 

 When she valiantly opened it, it slid over the 

 edge and disappeared. After this we had peace 



