The endless game- tracks formed a worse snare than any he had been in of human contrivance; and at places, moreover, the ground was boggy, catching hold of his feet, and exhausting him by the heavy going.

Several times animals broke cover and crashed away unseen.

At one spot in the ooze he saw the form of a huge crocodile, and at another place the menacing head of a python was reared above the tops of the reeds, with his forked tongue flickering about the blunt nose.
These sights, and the sudden snorts from unseen beasts, bred in him a growing feeling of uneasiness, which in turn weakened his powers of reasoning, so that he blundered hither and thither in a sort of reckless fury, until he went flat, face downwards, in black mud, that gripped him at every point.

If he had struggled he would have been hopelessly bogged, but luckily he recovered his wits, and set himself slowly to extricate himself.

His left foot was in up to the knee, and his left arm was sinking each moment, when he steadied himself and drew his knife.