The stream was eighty yards wide. There was no bridge over it,
but only a creeper rope tied across from bank to bank.
The river was very full, and a swift current was running; two hundred
yards below, the noise of falls sounded a warning note, and it was
known that alligators infested the district.
No wonder, then, that the natives were terrified at the idea of
attempting to swim across.
Yet the river lay between Captain Lendy's force and the food and rest
it needed. So, though owing to the privations the men had endured
their vital powers were at a low ebb, yet, with starvation staring
them in the face they must make the passage--alligators and falls
notwithstanding.
The first to cross were two policemen, who, after a difficult journey,
got safe to the other side.
Then followed a scene of excitement and danger. Private Momo Bangura
and Sergeant Smith were the next pair to start. Hardly had they
reached midstream when Bangura's rifle band, slipping over his arms,
pinned them to his side.
Smith gallantly went to the rescue; but it was difficult enough for
him to get along alone; and, with Bangura to support, he quickly
became exhausted.
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