Then they listened. At the end of a moment a second cry, more piercing and desperate than the first, reached their ears.
"Oh!" Marksman shouted, as he rose in his stirrups and closed his fists in fury, "that man is in danger of death."
"Whoever he is, we must save him," Brighteye answered, boldly.
They had understood each other. But how to save this man? Where was he? What danger menaced him? Who could answer these questions which they mentally asked themselves?
At the risk of being carried off by the torrent, the hunters forced their horses to enter the river, and lying almost on the necks of the noble animals, they investigated the waters. But, as we have said, the darkness was too thick, they could see nothing.
"The demon interferes," Marksman said, in despair. "Oh, heavens! shall we let this man die without going to his aid?"
At this moment a flash of lightning crossed the sky, with a dazzling zigzag. By its fugitive gleam, the hunters saw a horseman struggling furiously against the efforts of the waves.
"Courage! courage!" they shouted.
"Help!" the stranger replied, in a shaking voice.
There was no time for hesitation, for every second was an age.