Confused and terrible struggles for the boats ensued, and in the darkness and rain it was knife and hatchet and then paddles, which many snatched up and used as clubs.
Above the tumult Robert heard the trumpet tones of St.Luc cheering his men and directing them.

Once he caught a glimpse of him standing up to his knees in the water, waving the small gold-hilted sword that he carried so often, and he might have brought him down with a bullet had he carried a rifle, but he would have had no thought of drawing trigger upon him.

Then he was gone in the mist, and the gigantic painted figure of Tandakora appeared in his place for a moment.

Then the mists closed in for a second time, and he saw through it only fleeting forms and flashes of fire, when rifles and muskets were fired by the enemy.
His feeling of unreality increased.

The elements themselves had conspired to lend to everything a tinge weird and sinister to the last degree.