So we drifted, and drifted, and drifted. I strove to recover my breath,
But a numbness came over my heart, and I knew I was drifting to death,
As the big, heavy beasts were swept past by the terrible force of the stream,
And the whole world seemed slipping away, as I swam on alone in a dream.
Then I wondered how Fuzla would take it, and how many miles I had come;
Or guessed what the people would say when days passed and I never came home--
Till it came to me, as in a dream, that the current was setting in shore;
And after that, sahib, it is strange I could never recall any more.
Only this I can tell you: we measured it after, from starting to end,
And the distance was over ten miles by the straight, without counting the bend.