tombi_ pulled us through then, and so she
will again, for she knows who can hold her straight!"

That was the last I heard of Hans, for if he said any more, the hiss of
the torrential rain smothered his words.

Oh! I had tried to "keep a good heart" before the others, but it is
beyond my powers to describe the deadly fright I felt, perhaps the worst
of all my life, which is saying a great deal. Here I was starting on one
of the maddest ventures that was ever undertaken by man. I needn't put
its points again, but that which appealed to me most at the moment
was the crocodiles. I have always hated crocodiles since--well, never
mind--and the place was as full of them as the ponds at Ascension are of
turtles.

Still I swam on. The estuary was perhaps two hundred yards wide, not
more, no great distance for a good swimmer as I was in those days. But
then I had to hold the rifle above the water with my left hand at
all cost, for if once it went beneath it would be useless. Also I was
desperately afraid of being seen in the lightning flashes, although to
minimise this risk I had kept my dark-coloured cloth hat upon my head.
Lastly there was the lightning itself to fear, for it was fearful and
continuous and seemed to be striking along the water. It was a fact that
a fire-ball or something of the sort hit the surface within a few yards
of me, as though it had aimed at the rifle-barrel and just missed. Or so
I thought, though it may have been a crocodile rising at the moment.

In one way, or rather, in two, however, I was lucky. The first was the
complete absence of wind which must have raised waves that might have
swamped me and would at any rate have wetted the rifle. The second was
that there was no fear of my losing my path for in the mouth of the cave
I could see the glow of the fires which burned on either side of the
Motombo's seat. They served the same purpose to me as did the lamp of
the lady called Hero to her lover Leander when he swam the Hellespont
to pay her clandestine visits at night. But he had something pleasant to
look forward to, whereas I----! Still, there was another point in common
between us. Hero, if I remember right, was a priestess of the Greek
goddess of love, whereas the party who waited me was also in a religious
line of business. Only, as I firmly believe, he was a priest of the
devil.

I suppose that swim took me about a quarter-of-an-hour, for I went
slowly to save my strength, although the c