Dick Sand, in front, lowering his voice, gave directions to avoid striking against these rotten constructions.  The night was clear.  They saw well to direct the boat, but they could also be seen.

Then came a terrible moment.  Two natives, who talked in loud tones, were squatting close to the water on the piles, between which the current carried the boat, and the direction could not be changed for a narrower pass.  Now, would they not see it, and at their cries might not the whole village be alarmed?

A space of a hundred feet at most remained to be passed, when Dick Sand heard the two natives call more quickly to each other.  One showed the other the mass of drifting herbs, which threatened to break the long liane ropes which they were occupied in stretching at that moment.

Rising hastily, they called out for help.  Five or six other blacks ran at once along the piles and posted themselves on the cross-beams which supported them, uttering loud exclamations which the listeners could not understand.

In the boat, on the contrary, was absolute silence, except for the few orders given by Dick Sand in a low voice, and complete repose, except the movement of Hercules’s right arm moving the oar; at times a low growl from Dingo, whose jaws Jack held together with his little hands; outside, the murmur of the water which broke against the piles, then above, the cries of the ferocious cannibals.

The natives, meanwhile, rapidly drew up their ropes.  If they were raised in time the boat would pass, otherwise it would be caught, and all would be over with those who drifted in it!  As for slackening or stopping its progress, Dick Sand could do neither, for the current, stronger under this narrow construction, carried it forward more rapidly.

In half a minute the boat was caught between the piles.  By an unheard-of piece of fortune, the last effort made by the natives had raised the ropes.

But in passing, as Dick Sand had feared, the boat was deprived of a part of the grasses which now floated at its right.

One of the natives uttered a cry.  Had he had time to recognize what the roof covered, and was he going to alarm his comrades?  It was more than probable.

Dick Sand and his friends were already out of reach, and in a few moments, under the impetus of this current, now changed into a kind of rapid, they had lost sight of the lacustrine village.

“To the left bank!” Dick Sand ordered, as being more prudent.  “The stream is again navigable.”

“To the left bank!” replied Hercules, giving the oar a vigorous stroke.

Dick Sand stood beside him and looked at the surface of the water, which the moon lit up.  He saw nothing suspicious.  Not a boat had started in pursuit.  Perhaps these savages had none; and at daybreak not a native appeared, either on the bank or on the water.  After that, increasing their precautions, the boat kept close to the left bank.