tly in deeper water. My father and Uncle
Denis, who had mounted their horses, rode forward, telling us to keep
shouting, that they might find us again. The lightning continued
flashing as before, so that we could see them for a short time as they
rode away. My father had directed me to move on in as straight a line
as we could keep at right angles from the river, and by turning round I
could occasionally get a view of the trees which fringed its banks,
showing me that we were as nearly as possible keeping the course he
wished. Still I felt very anxious. I had remembered passing along a
deep gully which would in all probability be full of water, and before
we were aware of it the leading oxen might tumble in, and perhaps drag
the waggon after them. I told Martin and another man to go to their
heads and feel the way with poles, while the rest of the waggons kept as
close as possible one behind the other. The drivers, however, finding
the water rising, could with difficulty be induced to follow my orders.
Behind us we could hear the sound of the rushing waters as the swollen
river swept along, and at intervals the voices of the men driving the
rear waggons reached my ears, shouting to us to move faster. We were
thus advancing cautiously when I caught sight of a dark object rising up
almost before me and apparently reaching to the sky. It was a tree, but
in the darkness it seemed of gigantic proportions.

At that moment a vivid flash darted from the clouds, a loud explosion
followed with a deafening crash, and the stout trunk was rent asunder,
the branches falling on every side, the leading oxen narrowly escaping
being crushed. I should have been swept off my frightened horse had he
not sprang forward, trembling in every limb. The flash revealed to me
one of the gullies I had been anxious to avoid. I shouted to the other
men to keep clear of the danger. At the same time a dread seized me
lest my father and Uncle Denis might have ridden into it, and have been
carried away by the boiling current.

The men replied that they could not see their way, and from the cries
which reached me it was evident that the whole train was in confusion.
The roar of the waters drowned our voices. At that moment another flash
showed me a figure close by my side and I caught the words--

"Me show de way, dare high ground little ahead, come 'long."

It was Dio, who had leapt from the waggon in which he had been seated
and had come