Malchus and his band had been among the first to push off from the shore when the army began to cross the Rhone.  Malchus was in a roughly constructed canoe, which was paddled by Nessus and another of his men.  Like most of the other canoes, their craft soon became waterlogged, for the rapid and angry current of the river, broken and agitated by so large a number of boats, splashed over the sides of the clumsy canoes, which were but a few inches above the water.  The buoyancy of the wood was sufficient to float them even when full, but they paddled slowly and heavily.

The confusion was prodigious.  The greater part of the men, unaccustomed to rowing, had little control over their boats.  Collisions were frequent, and numbers of the boats were upset and their occupants drowned.  The canoe which carried Malchus was making fair progress, but, to his vexation, was no longer in the front line.  He was urging the paddlers to exert themselves to the utmost, when Nessus gave a sudden cry.

A horse which had broken loose from its fastenings behind one of the barges was swimming down, frightened and confused at the din.  It was within a few feet of them when Nessus perceived it, and in another moment it struck the canoe broadside with its chest.  The boat rolled over at once, throwing its occupants into the water.  Malchus grasped the canoe as it upset, for he would instantly have sunk from the weight of his armour.  Nessus a moment later appeared by his side.

“I will go to the other side, my lord,” he said, “that will keep the tree from turning over again.”

He dived under the canoe, and came up on the opposite side, and giving Malchus his hand across it, there was no longer any fear of the log rolling over.  The other rower did not reappear above the surface.  Malchus shouted in vain to some of the passing boats to pick him up, but all were so absorbed in their efforts to advance and their eagerness to engage the enemy that none paid attention to Malchus or the others in like plight.  Besides, it seemed probable that all, if they stuck to their canoes, would presently gain one bank or other of the river.  Malchus, too, had started rather low down, and he was therefore soon out of the flotilla.

The boat was nearly in midstream when the accident happened.

“The first thing to do,” Malchus said when he saw that there was no chance of their being picked up, “is to rid myself of my armour.  I can do nothing with it on, and if the tree turns over I shall go down like a stone.  First of all, Nessus, do you unloose your sword belt.  I will do the same.  If we fasten them together they are long enough to go round the canoe, and if we take off our helmets and pass the belts through the chin chains they will, with our swords, hang safely.”

This was with some difficulty accomplished.

“Now,” Malchus continued, “let us make our way to the stern of the canoe.  I will place my hand on the tree there, and do you unfasten the shoulder and waist straps of my breast and backpieces.  I cannot do it myself.”