I set
the paddle so as to turn the canoe as far from it as possible,
and held on grimly.
My eyes seemed to be bursting from my head, and through my closed
lids I could see the fierce light. We were nearly opposite now;
it roared like all the fires of hell, and the water boiled furiously
around it. Five seconds more. We were past; I heard the roar
behind me.
Then I too fell senseless. The next thing that I recollect is
feeling a breath of air upon my face. My eyes opened with great
difficulty. I looked up. Far, far above me there was light,
though around me was great gloom. Then I remembered and looked.
The canoe still floated down the river, and in the bottom of
it lay the naked forms of my companions. 'Were they dead?' I
wondered. 'Was I left alone in this awful place?' I knew not.
Next I became conscious of a burning thirst. I put my hand
over the edge of the boat into the water and drew it up again
with a cry. No wonder: nearly all the skin was burnt off the
back of it. The water, however, was cold, or nearly so, and
I drank pints and splashed myself all over. My body seemed to
suck up the fluid as one may see a brick wall suck up rain after
a drought; but where I was burnt the touch of it caused intense
pain.
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