When finally we drew near our destination, the water reached to the knees of the tallest of us, and our progress was more laborious and slower than ever. I now began to fear that we would not be able to locate the river bank, for how tell where the shallow water ended and the deep began? At length, however, I was relieved to observe a wide, unbroken flowing expanse several hundred yards ahead, and to note that a long rope, stretched in the water between improvised wooden supports, marked the river’s theoretical edge. It was just when we came in sight of our goal that the supreme horror befell. Even to this day I can recapture the amazement and alarm of that dread moment; and the abruptness of it all and the terror overwhelm me anew. Had the waters swelled and swept over us in a tidal wave, I would have been panic-stricken and yet halfway prepared--but I could not have anticipated that the blow was to strike from above rather than from beneath. * * * * * Suddenly--although this was only the beginning of the Atlantean day--the golden lights of the glass dome began to waver and flicker, then paled to a twilight glow, then (in less time than it takes to state) snapped into blackness. So startled were we that we stood there transfixed; scarcely an oath issued from our petrified lips. The darkness was absolute; we could not see our nearest neighbors; we seemed walled in by oblivion. For a moment there was silence; then came a light splashing to my left, and simultaneously dozens of voices burst forth bewilderingly in terror and dismay. And when that first horrified outburst was dying down, there crept over us from a distance other cries--confused cries as of many voices sighing and wailing in chorus. And all those voices seemed to form into one, and to grieve and drone in a single long-drawn sob, with echoes reminding me uncannily of lost souls mourning in the dark. But soon that melancholy tumult passed away; and we were aware only that we stood there knee-deep in the flood, in a silence unbroken except by the gurgling waters. Then it was that the most quick-witted of us all came to his senses. Suddenly a vivid light stabbed the gloom just to my left; and by its glaring yellow illumination I could make out the tall form of Xanocles. In his hands was a good-sized pocket flashlight. “I was a little afraid this might happen,” he declared, trying to be matter-of-fact, and speaking loudly enough for us all to hear. “Lucky I had these lanterns with me.” And, to our surprise, he calmly drew several more flashlights from the folds of his garments, and passed them to his nearest neighbors. “The High Chief Adviser warned me yesterday that this was possible,” he explained. “And so I thought it best to be prepared.”