our way."

The sergeant was right, although the time we took to reach the shore was
longer than he expected it would be. In daylight we could have made our
escape without difficulty, but now we ran the most fearful risk of being
crushed against the raft, as it surged up and down; or against the
trees, which hung, some with their branches in the water, others but
slightly raised above it, while the seething waters whirled and leapt
around their trunks with a force which must soon reduce our raft to
fragments.

"Now is our time!" cried the sergeant. "Quick, quick, gentlemen!" and
seizing a branch, he swung himself up into a tree, hauling his rifle and
knapsack after him. The next instant he extended his hand to me, by
which assistance I was enabled to follow his example. On looking round,
I lost sight of Manley. Had he been washed off, or struck by a bough?

"Manley, Manley!" I shouted; "where are you?"

"All right!" he answered, greatly to my relief.

The sound came from a distance, for even after I had left the raft it
had been driven some way on before he could manage to grasp a bough. We
had at all events succeeded in our object of crossing the lake, although
we had not landed exactly in the manner we desired, nor could we tell
our whereabouts. We might be at the very southern end of the lake,
should the wind have shifted to the northward, or we might be at its
western extremity. Wherever we were, there we must remain until
daylight; for were we to attempt moving, in the pitchy darkness which
hung around, we might fall off into the water, or lose ourselves in the
forest.

"It cannot be far off daylight, sergeant," I observed.

"I think not," he answered; "but I would advise you to take care not to
drop off to sleep. If you do, you may chance to fall into the water. It
will be as well to caution the lieutenant, or he, being alone, may
forget himself."

Considering the noise of the waves dashing under our feet, the waving of
the trees, and the howling of the wind amid them, I did not think the
caution very necessary; but, notwithstanding, I shouted out to Manley.

"No fear of that," he answered. "It would require a more comfortable
spot for a bivouac, to induce me to take a snooze."

That night appeared to me the longest I can remember. Days appeared to
have passed since we had left the eastern shore, with the bright
sunlight and the calm blue water. Still, day must return. What a comfort
that thought often