mont's commission to me, and could picture to myself
the great destiny that in all likelihood awaited her who now, in sickly
dalliance, moved her hand in the stream, and scattered the sparkling drops
in merry mood over her companions. Twice or thrice a head of light brown
hair peeped from beneath the folds of the awning, and I wondered within
myself if it were on that same brow that the greatest diadem of Europe was
to sit.

So intent was I on these fancies, so full of the thousand speculations
that grew out of them, that I paid no attention to what was passing, and
never noticed an object on which the Hungarian's eyes were bent in earnest
contemplation. A quick gesture and a sudden exclamation from the man soon
attracted me, and I beheld, about a quarter of a mile off, an enormous
timber-raft descending the stream at headlong speed. That the great mass
had become unmanageable, and was carried along by the impetuosity of the
current, was plain enough, not only from the zig-zag course it took, but
from the wild cries and frantic gestures of the men on board. Though
visible to us from the eminence on which we stood, a bend of the stream
still concealed it from those in the boat. To apprise them of their
danger, we shouted with all our might, gesticulating at the same time, and
motioning to them to put in to shore. It was all in vain; the roar of the
river, which is here almost a torrent, drowned our voices, and the little
boat still held her place in the middle of the stream. Already the huge
mass was to be seen emerging from behind a wooded promontory of the river
side, and 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 paralyzed with
terror, for the boatman never moves! A wild shriek rises above the roar of