ustomed to the country than was Jack's.
After having gone a considerable distance, he left Jack some way
behind. The marks of the horse's feet had immediately been lost, by the
spongy ground returning to its former state. Jack, however, thought
there could be no difficulty in pushing on directly behind him. He had
not, however, gone far before he found that, instead of following
Burdale's direction to turn neither to the right nor left, he had by
some means got off the track. His horse began to flounder, and the more
he floundered the more difficult it was to extricate himself. Deeper
and deeper he sank into the mire, till Jack, fearing that he might lose
him altogether, shouted out to Burdale. Burdale heard his voice at
length, and hurried back to his assistance. Jack had already got off
his horse into the mud, hoping in that way to relieve the poor animal,
but it did but little good, and he himself was also sticking fast!

"Here, catch hold of the end of this rope!" exclaimed Burdale, as he
threw one which was secured to his saddlebow. "I will haul you out; and
then, maybe, we will get the horse free. You could not have followed my
advice, or this would never have happened."

Happily, Jack soon reached firm ground, and then he and Burdale together
managed to get out the unfortunate horse.

"I must not in future let you get a foot behind me, Master Deane," said
Burdale. "You see that a man can as easily be lost in this fen-country
as he could in a big forest, and now we must make the best of our way
onward; the evening is advancing, and the night is growing desperately
cold. It will require some good liquor to warm up our veins again."

As soon as they got on dry ground, Burdale, with a whisp of dry hay and
grass, wiped down the horse's legs, and made him look in a more
respectable condition than the mud of the marsh had left him in.
Burdale, standing up in his stirrups, looked round in every direction to
ascertain that no one was approaching.

"We're getting near Master Pearson's country," he observed, "and, as
there are some sharp eyes on the look-out for him, we must take care not
to betray his abode."

Hour after hour passed by, and still they seemed to have made but little
progress across this inhospitable-looking country. Now again a few
mounds were seen just rising above the ground, which, Burdale told his
companion, were the huts of the inhabitants.

"Well, what sort of people can live here?"