That was the last I heard of Hans, for if he said any more, the hiss of the torrential rain smothered his words.

Oh!  I had tried to “keep a good heart” before the others, but it is beyond my powers to describe the deadly fright I felt, perhaps the worst of all my life, which is saying a great deal.  Here I was starting on one of the maddest ventures that was ever undertaken by man.  I needn’t put its points again, but that which appealed to me most at the moment was the crocodiles.  I have always hated crocodiles since—­well, never mind—­and the place was as full of them as the ponds at Ascension are of turtles.

Still I swam on.  The estuary was perhaps two hundred yards wide, not more, no great distance for a good swimmer as I was in those days.  But then I had to hold the rifle above the water with my left hand at all cost, for if once it went beneath it would be useless.  Also I was desperately afraid of being seen in the lightning flashes, although to minimise this risk I had kept my dark-coloured cloth hat upon my head.  Lastly there was the lightning itself to fear, for it was fearful and continuous and seemed to be striking along the water.  It was a fact that a fire-ball or something of the sort hit the surface within a few yards of me, as though it had aimed at the rifle-barrel and just missed.  Or so I thought, though it may have been a crocodile rising at the moment.

In one way, or rather, in two, however, I was lucky.  The first was the complete absence of wind which must have raised waves that might have swamped me and would at any rate have wetted the rifle.  The second was that there was no fear of my losing my path for in the mouth of the cave I could see the glow of the fires which burned on either side of the Motombo’s seat.  They served the same purpose to me as did the lamp of the lady called Hero to her lover Leander when he swam the Hellespont to pay her clandestine visits at night.  But he had something pleasant to look forward to, whereas I——!  Still, there was another point in common between us.  Hero, if I remember right, was a priestess of the Greek goddess of love, whereas the party who waited me was also in a religious line of business.  Only, as I firmly believe, he was a priest of the devil.

I suppose that swim took me about a quarter-of-an-hour, for I went slowly to save my strength, although the crocodiles suggested haste.  But thank Heaven they never appeared to complicate matters.  Now I was quite near the cave, and now I was beneath the overhanging roof and in the shallow water of the little bay that formed a harbour for the canoe.  I stood upon my feet on the rock bottom, the water coming up to my breast, and peered about me, while I rested and worked my left arm, stiff with the up-holding of the gun, to and fro.  The fires had burnt somewhat low and until my eyes were freed from the raindrops and grew accustomed to the light of the place I could not see clearly.