de the cosy gipsy house as safe as possible, and then
set about collecting a store of wood to last till bedtime. Willow bushes
drop no branches, and driftwood was our only source of supply. We hunted
the shores pretty thoroughly. Everywhere the banks were crumbling as the
rising flood tore at them and carried away great portions with a splash
and a gurgle.

"The island's much smaller than when we landed," said the accurate
Swede. "It won't last long at this rate. We'd better drag the canoe
close to the tent, and be ready to start at a moment's notice. _I_ shall
sleep in my clothes."

He was a little distance off, climbing along the bank, and I heard his
rather jolly laugh as he spoke.

"By Jove!" I heard him call, a moment later, and turned to see what had
caused his exclamation; but for the moment he was hidden by the willows,
and I could not find him.

"What in the world's this?" I heard him cry again, and this time his
voice had become serious.

I ran up quickly and joined him on the bank. He was looking over the
river, pointing at something in the water.

"Good Heavens, it's a man's body!" he cried excitedly. "Look!"

A black thing, turning over and over in the foaming waves, swept rapidly
past. It kept disappearing and coming up to the surface again. It was
about twenty feet from the shore, and just as it was opposite to where
we stood it lurched round and looked straight at us. We saw its eyes
reflecting the sunset, and gleaming an odd yellow as the body turned
over. Then it gave a swift, gulping plunge, and dived out of sight in a
flash.

"An otter, by gad!" we exclaimed in the same breath, laughing.

It _was_ an otter, alive, and out on the hunt; yet it had looked exactly
like the body of a drowned man turning helplessly in the current. Far
below it came to the surface once again, and we saw its black skin, wet
and shining in the sunlight.

Then, too, just as we turned back, our arms full of driftwood, another
thing happened to recall us to the river bank. This time it really was a
man, and what was more, a man in a boat. Now a small boat on the Danube
was an unusual sight at any time, but here in this deserted region, and
at flood time, it was so unexpected as to constitute a real event. We
stood and stared.

Whether it was due to the slanting sunlight, or the refraction from the
wonderfully illumined water, I cannot say, but, whatever the cause, I
found it difficult to focus my sight properly upo