Chapter 21

Once before he had had occasion to take an armed force into the country, and he never forgot the nightmare month he spent mostly ankle-deep in water. Here dwelt water snakes and huge leeches, and a family of crocodiles, the founders of which at some remote period must have travelled overland to this swampy paradise. There were certain paths, more or less intermittent, that connected the area with the outer world, but only at certain seasons of the year were they practicable. The officer commanding troops, who made …