"Oh! I say!" exclaimed Sanine, fascinated by the sight.
Ivanoff started backwards as in alarm.
"What's the matter?"
"Hush! It's Sina Karsavina!"
"So it is!" said Sanine aloud. "I didn't recognize her. How charming
she looks!"
"Yes, doesn't she?" said the other, chuckling.
At that moment laughter and loud cries told them that they had been
overheard. Karsavina, startled, leaped into the clear water from which
alone her rosy face and shining eyes emerged. Sanine and Ivanoff fled
precipitately, stumbling back through the tall rushes to their boat.
"Oh! how good it is to be alive!" said Sanine, stretching himself.
Down the river, floating onward,
Ever onward, to the sea.
So he sang in his clear, resonant voice, while behind the trees the
sound of girlish laughter could still be heard. Ivanoff looked at the
sky.
"It's going to rain," he said.
The trees had become darker, and a deep shadow passed swiftly across
the meadow.
"We shall have to run for it!"
"Where? There's no escape, now," cried Sanine cheerfully.
Overhead a leaden-hued cloud floated nearer and nearer. There was no
wind; the stillness and gloom had increased.
"We shall get soaked to the skin," said Ivanoff, "so do give me a
cigarette, to console me."
Faintly the little yellow flame of the match flickered in the gloom. A
sudden gust of wind swept it away. One big drop of rain splashed the
boat, and another fell on to Sanine's brow. Then came the downpour.
Pattering on the leaves, the rain hissed as it touched the surface of
the water. All in a moment from the dark heaven it fell in torrents,
and only the rush and the splash of it could be heard.
"Nice, isn't it?" said Sanine, moving his shoulders to which his wet
shirt was sticking.
"Not so bad," replied Ivanoff, who had crouched at the bottom of the
boat.
Very soon the rain ceased, though the clouds had not dispersed, but
were massed behind the woods where flashes of lighting could be seen at
intervals.
"We ought to be getting back," said Ivanoff.
"All right. I'm ready."
They rowed out into the current. Black, heavy clouds hung overhead, and
the flashes of lightning became incessant; white scimitars that smote
the sullen sky. Though now it did not rain, a feeling of thunder was in
the air. Birds with wet and ruffled plumage skimmed the surface of the
river, while the trees loomed darkly against the blue-grey heavens.