In the evening the mosquitoes hovered around
him in clouds and made his life miserable. That night he was drowsy and
fatigued in consequence of his hard work all day. About eleven o'clock,
in spite of himself, he went to sleep, though well aware of the danger
he ran from the mills. The Danubian mill consists of two great barges
fastened together by beams and decked over with a large wheel between
them. They are anchored in the swiftest part of the current which
drives the machinery. He was awakened from his nap by hearing a
tremendous crashing noise and found himself just passing in between
two barges and in a second or two would be under the rapidly revolving
wheel. The current hurled him against it. Before he could recover one
of the planks struck him over the eyebrows and the next struck him on
the back of the head driving him completely under. His paddle was
smashed in two and one half of it gone, while he could feel the warm
blood running down his forehead. With the broken piece of the paddle he
managed to gain the eddy back of one of the barges. The miller was
awakened by his cries for assistance and the stalwart Hungarian
appeared on the deck with a lantern and threw a rope to the almost
fainting man. Paul grasped this firmly and was hauled up till the light
of the lantern revealed his blood covered face and glinting rubber head
piece.
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