We must be content to drift down the river until our good luck throws us into some eddy which may carry us near one bank or the other." It was a long time, indeed, before that stroke of fortune befell them, and they were many miles down the river before the current took them near the eastern bank at a point where a sharp curve of the river threw the force of the current over in that direction; but although they were carried to within a few yards of the shore, so numbed and exhausted were they by their long immersion in the cold water that it was with the greatest difficulty that they could give the canoe a sufficient impulsion to carry it to the bank.
At last, however, their feet touched the bottom, and they struggled to shore, carrying with them the arms and armour; then, letting the canoe drift away again, they crawled up the bank, and threw themselves down, utterly exhausted.

It was some time before either of them spoke.

Then Malchus said: "We had best strip off our clothes and wring them as well as we can; after that they will soon dry on us.

We have no means of drying them here, so we must lie down among some bushes to shelter us from this bitter wind which blows from the mountains." The clothes were wrung until the last drop was extracted from them and then put on again.

They were still damp and cold, but Malchus and his companion had been accustomed to be drenched to the skin, and thought nothing of this.