d now their destruction seemed
inevitable. Without waiting to reach the path, I spurred my horse down
the steep descent, and, half falling and half plunging, gained the bank.
To all seeming now they heard me, for I saw the curtain of the awning
suddenly move, and a boatman's red cap peer from beneath it. I screamed
and shouted with all my might, and called out 'The raft--the raft!' till
my throat felt bursting. For some seconds the progress of the great mass
seemed delayed, probably by having become entangled with the trees along
the shore; but now, borne along by its immense weight, it swung round
the angle of the bank, and came majestically on, a long, white wave
marking its course as it breasted the water.

They see it! they see it! Oh, good heavens! are they paralysed with
terror, for the boatman never moves! A wild shriek rises above the
roar of the current, and yet they do nothing. What prayers and cries of
entreaty, what wild imprecations I uttered, I know not; but I am sure
that reason had already left me, and nothing remained in its place
except the mad impulse to save them, or perish. There was then so much
of calculation in my mind that I could balance the chances of breasting
the stream on horseback, or alone; and this done, I spurred my animal
over the bank into the Danube. A horse is a noble swimmer when he has
courage, and a Hungarian horse rarely fails in this quality.

Heading towards the opposite shore, the gallant beast cleared his track
through the strong current, snorting madly, and seeming to plunge at
times against the rushing waters. I never turned my eyes from the skiff
all this time, and now could see the reason of what had seemed their
apathy. The anchor had become entangled, fouled among some rocks or
weeds of the river, and the boatman's efforts to lift it were all in
vain. I screamed and yelled to the man to cut the rope, but my cries
were unheard, for he bent over the gunwale, and tugged and tore with all
his might. I was more than fifty yards higher up the stream, and rapidly
gaining the calmer water under shore, when I tried to turn my horse's
head down the current; but the instinct of safety rebelled against all
control, and the animal made straight for the bank. There was, then,
but one chance left, and, taking my sabre in my mouth, I sprang from his
back into the stream. In all the terrible excitement of that dreadful
moment I clung to one firm purpose. The current would surely carry