WE WALK ACROSS 113 
the rivers, really handicapped me considerably, especially 
in the bogs, 
As the day wore on the heat became intense. It 
blistered our faces, and our hands swelled up like 
puddings. 
We could now only advance by stages. The plan was 
this. I, trudging along in front, would doggedly count 
about five hundred paces, and then sit down wherever 
there was a mound which would take the weight of 
the cases off our backs. That was a great relief. After 
five minutes by the watch up we would get again and 
plod along. 
Now one remarkable fact in respect of the intense heat 
was this, that neither of us turned a hair. How was 
that? I donot know. But so it was. 
Sleep, too, was out of the question, because a new 
thing had happened. Musquitoes had appeared. 
But there was no help for it. We were heading for 
some hills that would be about eight or ten miles off; 
and in the meantime all the land was weary bog with 
peat-mounds here and there, Poor old Sailor suffered 
badly from the musquitoes, which bit him about the 
muzzle, so that he had constantly to put his nose into a 
bit of moss and rub it with his paws. 
At last we reached the hills, and after a long and 
weary climb found ourselves on, a high plateau. Here 
there was a bit of a breeze, and the mosquitoes were 
much less troublesome. 
