2 1 2 Marsh. 



steps he traversed the plank; then, with a short, sharp, back- 

 ward jerk, the result of long experience, the pole was swiftly 

 circled back for the next comer. Secretly, I rather funked 

 the plank ; there was a set look about our guide's face which 

 showed that the crossing was a rather more serious business 

 than any we had undertaken in this line yet ; besides, the 

 light was bad, and in the haze the ditch looked wider than 

 it really was. But I still had dry trousers, and the know- 

 ledge of that fact made me feel confident. Chaffing my 

 friend at the already wet condition of one leg, I suggested 

 that he should go next. He did not hide his want of confi- 

 dence, but he took excessive care, and was soon safely over. 

 Then it was my turn. Back came the pole for me ; not with 

 a steady, wheel-like motion, but with a shaky, wobbling gait, 

 which would have made any one less confident than myself 

 suspicious that its base was not so firmly fixed as it had 

 been. I had a satchel over my shoulders, and whilst watch- 

 ing and waiting for my companions to cross, I had rapidly 

 refreshed myself with some biscuits and the contents of a 

 flask which were therein. Boldly I take hold of the pole ; 

 two steps, and I am in the middle of the plank ; quick as 

 lightning the pole begins to sink into those oozy depths, not 

 perpendicularly, as if it were seeking a firmer base that 

 would have given me a sense of increased security but at a 

 slight angle from the perpendicular. But the slight angle is 

 enough ; the yielding ooze gives way before my weight and, 

 rapidly as thought, that pole travels out across the ditch at 

 right angles to the plank on which I am crossing. My arm 

 goes with the pole, and in a moment my centre of gravity is 

 disturbed, and I find my body following my arm. Quick as 

 thought two ideas present themselves to me. If I stick to 



