About midnight one of the sentries observed something float by in the soengei strongly resembling the trunk of a tree. He thought it might be a crocodile, and he therefore whistled softly to draw the attention of the men in the canoes, fearing lest the monster should utilize the opportunity by pouncing upon some unlucky member of the crew to disappear with him in the dark depths of the river. After giving his warning whistle the sentry noticed that the tree or crocodile was moving towards the shore and was followed by about fifty similar objects. Their movements by no means resembled the noiseless motion of a crocodile, besides which the presence of so many following the first was opposed to the habits of these animals. He therefore became certain that there was something in the wind. He discharged his rifle, and his companions hearing the signal also opened fire. The shots had hardly sounded in the midnight silence when a savage yell was heard from behind the obstruction. Several figures now appeared trying to break through the barrier, a few of them succeeding. Fortunately the night was not dark, the air was calm and the stars shone brightly, partly illuminating the scene. Nothing could be observed of what was going on behind the obstruction, but every figure that surmounted it became distinctly apparent against the faintly lit background and was exposed to the well-aimed bullets of the four Europeans. The Dayaks, who had also been entrusted with rifles, began under the influence of their native impetuosity to open a deafening discharge. The Europeans, more collected, only fired whenever they saw a dark figure hurrying towards the river, and they rarely missed their mark. The two Swiss took no share in the firing but carefully reserved their ammunition for moments of imminent danger. Their precaution was not in vain, for suddenly a large number of assailants succeeded in creeping through the obstruction and, mandauws in hand, rapidly sped toward the river to throw themselves on the rangkans. The women commenced to shriek and were almost mad with despair, but the two Swiss now joined in the struggle and firing calmly and deliberately made a couple of the assailants bite the dust at each discharge. Their rifles sounded regularly and did good execution among the Doessonese who approached the river. A few of them, however, managed to creep through the fire, threw themselves into the river and grasped the rangkans, which they tried desperately to capsize. Now arrived the turn of the Dayaks: their mandauws cleft some skulls and lopped some hands, sending the dissevered fingers in the laps of the women. A few shrieks, a few groans, some death struggles, and the work was done. The assailants dropped into the stream to become, whether dead or wounded, a prey to the crocodiles.