While they thought all secure; but it wasn't! So dawn found us stealing along
With a herd of a hundred she buffaloes, all of them lusty and strong.
Well, we made for the river, through tamarisk jungle and tussocks of grass,
And narrow-pathed tangle of jhau that would scarce let a buffalo pass,
With our thoughts on the footsteps behind, till the first level streak of the light
Brought us down to the stream; and, by God! it had risen ten feet in the night!
'Twas a broad, yellow plain, shining far in the rays of the sun as it rose,
And a cold wind swept over the flood that came hurrying down from the snows
With a swift, silent current in eddying swirls--not a sound, not a dash
Save a sudden, dull thud, as the bank, undermined, tumbled in with a splash.