Down below him in the clear water he saw the yellow head of Big Bonsa rocking and quivering like a great reflected moon, saw too that it was beginning to rise.

Yet he could not swim away from it, the fetish seemed to have hypnotized him.

He heard Jeekie calling to him from the shallow water near the further bank, but still he floated there like a log and stared down at Big Bonsa wallowing beneath.
Jeekie plunged back into the canal and with a few strong strokes reached him, gripped him by the arm and began to tow him to the shore.

Before they came there Big Bonsa rose like a huge fish and tried to follow them, but could not, or so it seemed.

At any rate it only whirled round and round upon the surface, while from it poured a white fluid that turned the black water to the hue of milk.