It seemed ages as we were sucked in by the current.
At last we were past, and then the motions of the boat became more gentle, and we found ourselves in a kind of back eddy, with all sorts of timber and branches and floating leaves going gently round and round in a circle.
"Now paddle, boys, and don't splash," the Commander whispered, steering as best he could. The light of the fire suddenly disappeared.
"Give way, boys, we're round a corner—out of sight of the sentries."
We got the boat under some control and moved slowly towards the darkest part we could see. We had not the least idea what it would be, but pushed on, my heart going like a steam-hammer.
Presently something swept across my face, catching me a stinging blow. In my excitement and nervousness I had to bite my lips to prevent myself from yelling with fright, and clutched at it.
It was a branch of a tree.
I hauled on it, hand over hand, found my face wetted with damp leaves, and, the others helping, we made out way right in among the branches.
The Commander plunged the boat-hook over the side. "Two feet deep," he said, then knelt down, felt for the bottom plug and pulled it out, and the water came gurgling rapidly through.
In a minute it was up to our ankles, and there we had to stand and weigh the boat down as the water crept up, till gradually it was over our knees. Ugh! How cold it was! But there was nothing else to do if we wanted the boat to sink, and we had to do it.