The men were more often on foot
than in their saddles, sometimes roping their horses to the sides of the
waggons to aid the oxen, sometimes putting their shoulders to the
wheels, or working with a score of others with railway sleepers that had
been brought for the purpose, to lever the axles out of deep holes into
which the wheels had sunk.
"I don't think I ever knew what it was to be really dirty before," Field
said, as they finally dismounted and prepared to camp. "I thought I did
know something about mud, but I can see that I did not. I feel that I am
a sort of animated pie, and could be cooked comfortably in an oven. If
we could but get a big fire and stand round it, our crust might peel
off; and I really don't see any other way. There is one advantage in it,
and that is that we shall be able to skirmish, if necessary, across
either a sandy or muddy country, without the possibility of our being
made out more than fifty yards away by the keenest-sighted Boer. What do
you propose, Captain Chris? If there were running water near, the course
would be clear. We would lie down by turns, and be rolled over and over,
and thumped with stones, and rubbed with anything that came handy till
we were in a state of comparative cleanliness.
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