THE DESTRUCTION OF SZEGEDIN. 3 



miracle, yet the destruction of property which did 

 take place involved serious loss and great misery. 

 Something like twenty thousand people were houseless 

 and homeless for several weeks. The possible recur- 

 rence of such an event must at all times cause the 

 gravest anxiety. 



With full knowledge of the dangerous behaviour 

 of these great rivers, and the terrible havoc their 

 waters are capable of inflicting, it will not be wondered 

 at that the public mind became greatly excited as each 

 day more and more alarming news reached us from 

 the Theiss valley. It was in this condition of mind 

 that I left my house in the fortress of Buda on Sunday 

 morning, the 9th of March, to seek the latest intelli- 

 gence at the club in Pesth. On my way thither I 

 encountered Lieutenant Zubovics, whose name is well 

 known to many in England by his swimming feats 

 over the Danube, Thames, and Seine on horseback, 

 and for his ride for a wager from Vienna to Paris. 

 Lieutenant Zubovics at once informed me that the 

 last news from Szegedin was so alarming that he had 

 determined to organise a volunteer life-saving corps to 

 render assistance in case of need ; and he proposed to 

 start that same night, as no time was to be lost. 

 Having enrolled myself in the corps, we went down 

 to the lower quay in search of the captain of one of the 

 Francis Canal Towage Company's steamers, who had 

 orders to place all the rowing boats he could spare at 

 our disposal. When we found the captain he set to 



