U2 DENSE COVERTS. 



sport: indeed we needed them to keep us up through 

 that cold night. On the far side of the river there 

 was a large tract of sand and clay, which was 

 one close-written record of the goings and comings 

 of thirsty beasts. Yet all that weary night we 

 saw hardly anything. At six we marched down 

 to those icy waters of tribulation as men prepared 

 to do or die that is, to be miserable as comfort- 

 ably as possible. Pitching ourselves and a flask of 

 Marseilles ' rhum ' into the bush, we arranged 

 that Stepan should watch until midnight, and the 

 morning watch should be mine. With a stone for 

 a pillow, and my knees tucked up to my chin, 

 I soon slept to the tune of the stream at my feet, 

 to wake in about an hour's time shivering and wet 

 through with the mist. The sound of a well- 

 known snore explained to me how rigid had been 

 Stcpan's vigil ; and as two or three dusky forms 

 bolted back into the thicket on the far side as I 

 rose unwarily to kick him, I bitterly regretted 

 that I had not kept watch all night through. 



Resolving not to disturb my trusty henchman, 

 I settled myself in the warmest corner I could 

 find, and prepared to keep watch till morning. 

 And I did so through all that livelong night, until 

 the Pleiads had worked right round into the 

 west : a little querulous wind arose, the stars grew 

 greyer and greyer, there came a sudden bitter 

 chill into the air, to which all the cold of the night 



