ABSTRACT
Of course the first thing to be done was to strike camp, which we did one morning, and transported everything to the Lakat barrack by oxwaggon, in readiness to leave next day. We had a good deal of trouble with our pack-animals, or rather with their owners, that morning; and after I had sent one horse back to Nevesinje with boxes we could spare, they protested they could not possibly manage with the remaining two. (The fourth was for my wife, I preferring to walk the score of miles we had to go to enduring the miseries of a native saddle for six or seven hours.) My reply was that they had promised to transport
us to Glavaticevo for half a sovereign, and to that I should hold them, whether they used three horses or thirty. (I may here remark that the proper charge was about half that sum, but in the end, as will be seen, I had to pay one-fourth more even than this.) However, the artful Turk was too many for me in the end, for, on making a start, we found the two pack-horses gone on, and my wife's horse loaded with such an infinity of minor paraphernalia as to make the idea of anyone's riding thereon quite ridiculous. Protestationswere quite useless at this stage; but we were told.. we should be able to get another horse at Klunj, the first village en route. There was nothing forit but to start on foot, and in this way we covered the first hour and a half of our journey, which led along a track through hazel covert and overrough, sharp rocks.
