NAVIGATION OF THE RIVER LEONA 



20J 



were the curving banks and the reaches of the river as they opened 

 out in front of us. One's senses were too much occupied, one's, 

 nerves too much on the 



stretch to be aware of *"^SWHBS^*T^ > -^ 



anything beyond. We, 

 the launch and the river 

 were playing a gigantic 

 gamble, in which the 

 stakes on our part were 

 perilously heavy. This 

 continued to be for five 

 minutes one's most pro- 

 minent idea. It was very 

 exciting, for we had no- 

 thing to do but await 

 developments. 



Very soon, however, 

 this feeling wore off. It 

 seems that a very strong 

 emotion cannot in the 

 nature of things last long. 

 Undoubtedly c'esi le pre- 

 mier pas qui coHie. I 

 looked round and saw 

 the other two grinning. 



At the pace we were then going our voyage was not likely to- 

 last more than four hours. This was a rousfh calculation allowinpf 

 for the windings of the river that lay between us and Lake- 

 Argentine. We afterwards found that we ran the distance in 

 three and a half hours, but they passed like a quarter of an hour. 

 I do not suppose that any suicide club has ever invented a more 

 acute form of excitement. 



We rarely saw half a mile in front of us. At first the 

 banks were low and the coarse grass upon them blew and shook 

 against the pale blue of the sky-rim, but soon they began ta 

 give place to high and rocky slopes. Now and then one caught 

 the glitter of a submerged rock. The wind and the current made. 



EEKNARDO HAHANSEN 



