haps, some large branch or
root which holds it in its place. Many years must have elapsed since
these trees were first driven here, and the water has probably rendered
this branch or root very rotten--that is what I wish to find out."

At that moment the doleful screech of an owl interrupted them, and those
plaintive cries troubling the silence of night, just as they were about
to entertain some hope, sounded ominous in the ears of Pepe.

"Ah!" said he, sadly, all his superstition reviving, "the voice of the
owl at this moment seems to me to announce no good fortune to us."

"The imitation is perfect, I allow," said Bois-Rose, "but you must not
be thus deceived. It is an Indian sentinel who calls to his companions
either to warn them to be watchful, or what is more like their
diabolical spirit, to remind us that they are watching us. It is a kind
of death-song with which they wish to regale us."

As he spoke, the same sound was repeated from the opposite bank with
different modulations, confirming his words, but it sounded none the
less terrible as it revealed all the perils and ambushes hidden by the
darkness of the night.

"I have a great mind to call to them to roar more like tigers that they
are."

"Do not; it would only enable them to know our exact position."

So saying, the Canadian entered the water with extreme care, while his
comrades followed his movements with anxious eyes.

"Well," said Pepe, when Bois-Rose came to the surface to take breath,
"are we firmly fixed?"

"All is well, I think," replied Bois-Rose, "I see at present but one
thing that keeps the islet at anchor. Have patience a while."

"Take care not to get too far under," said Fabian, "or you may be caught
in the roots and branches."

"Have no fear, child; a whale may sooner remain fixed to a fishing-boat
which it can toss twenty feet into the air, than I under an islet that I
could break to pieces with a blow."

The river closed again over his head, and a tolerably long space of time
elapsed during which the presence of Bois-Rose was indicated only by the
eddies formed round the islet, which now tottered on its foundation.
His comrades felt that the giant was making a powerful effort, and
Fabian's heart sank as he thought that he might be struggling with
death; when a crash was heard under their feet, like that of a ship's
timbers striking against a rock, and Bois-Rose reappeared above the
surface, his hair streaming with water