22 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



pervading flood. Poor fellows, their faces were lit up 

 with joy Avhen they saw us come to rescue them. 

 We anchored as near as possible, and commenced 

 taking them off as fast as we could with our one boat. 

 It took some while longer than I should have thought, 

 and the setting sun warned us there was no time 

 to be lost. The sun went down in great beauty, 

 dipping into the cruel waters, and throwing back an 

 effulgent glow that lit up that scene of desolation 

 with a terrible loveliness. When the great red ball 

 had sunk beneath the sea of trouble, and the last 

 hues of exquisite colouring had faded from wave and 

 sky, I felt somehow that hope itself had departed to 

 the under-world. The wind now rose again, whistling 

 drearily, and in the chill, grey twilight we made our 

 way back with all speed to Szegedin. 



It was quite dark when we reached the town : 

 nothing remarkable had transpired in our absence. 

 The state of affairs remained much the same as in the 

 morning, neither better nor worse. 



As we had got back rather late, it was after ten 

 o'clock before we had finished our supper at the 

 restaurant in the town. Every time the outer door 

 was opened, a gust of wind shook the whole house 

 the storm was rising again worse than last night. 

 The misery we had seen that day made us all very 

 silent and thoughtful. The outlook for the night, 

 with that dismal howling close to our ears, was not 

 comforting. Would it be possible to keep back the 



