codile, too, might be
lurking beneath the bank; but the business was so important that Gray
resolutely set his face against the idea of danger, telling himself that
it was his duty; and leaving his rod upon the bank, he quietly lowered
himself into the river, the cold water sending a sharp shock through him
as he stood, breast high, holding on by some tangled roots, while the
water pressed against him, with no little force, as it ran.

He paused there for a few minutes listening, half fancying that he had
heard a noise, and that the slight splash he made might have been noted
by Dullah or the men on the sampans; and as he listened, sure enough
there was a dull noise, as of a blow, followed by a little rustling, and
then, just above his head, he could hear somebody breathing hard, as if
after some exertion.

Gray did not stir; and fortunately he was quite concealed by the
overhanging bank, as a Malay, down upon his hands and knees, leaned over
the edge and looked up and down the river.

For the moment Gray felt that he must be seen, and his hand stole
involuntarily towards his breast in search of a weapon; but he was in
utter darkness beneath the bank, and the man's eyes were more directed
outward.

The result was that the Malay, who, kris in hand, had crept cautiously
from Dullah's hut right up through the undergrowth and long grass, to
where he believed the Englishman to be fishing, drew cautiously back,
and crept once more away.

Gray remained motionless for a few moments, and then, convinced that
this meant ill to him, he began to wade cautiously along towards where
the sampans lay in the stream, some thirty yards away.

He moved very slowly, so as to make no plash in the water, which
sometimes, as the river shallowed, came only to his waist, while at
other times it nearly reached his chin; and had he not clung tightly to
the water-washed roots and depending bushes, he must have been swept
away.

Gray had gone about half the distance; and as he neared the sampans,
whose forms he vainly tried to make out in the darkness, to his horror,
he found that something was moving towards him in the water.

Quick as lightning he drew the long keen dirk from his belt, and stood
ready to thrust, for it was either a crocodile or some large animal, he
felt sure; but directly after he stood holding on by his left hand, to a
bunch of tangled root hanging from the bank, and felt his heart seem to
stand still, for, to his surp