"I hadn't the least fear just now," was Sina's proud reflection. She
suddenly looked at Sanine, feeling as if this were her first sight of
him. There he sat, facing her, in the stern, a fine figure of a man;
dark-eyed, broad-shouldered, intensely virile.
"What a handsome fellow!" she thought. A whole world of unknown forces
and emotions lay before her. Should she enter that world? She smiled at
her now curiosity, trembling all over. Sanine must have guessed what
was passing in her mind. His breath came quicker, almost in gasps.
In passing through a narrow part of the stream, the oars caught in the
trailing foliage and slipped from Sina's hands.
"I can't get along here, it's so narrow," she said timidly. Her voice
sounded gentle and musical as the rippling of the stream.
Sanine stood up, and moved towards her.
"What is it?" she asked in alarm.
"It's all right, I am only going to ..."
Sina rose in her turn, and attempted to get to the rudder.
The boat rocked so violently that she well nigh lost her balance, and
involuntarily she caught hold of Sanine, after falling almost into his
arms. At that moment, almost unconsciously, and never believing it
possible, she gently prolonged their contact. It was this touch of her
that in a moment fired his blood, while she, sensible of his ardour,
irresistibly responded thereto.
"Ah!" exclaimed Sanine, in surprise and delight.
He embraced her passionately, forcing her backwards, so that her hat
fell off.
The boat rocked with greater violence, as invisible wavelets dashed
against the shore.
"What are you doing?" she cried, in a faint voice. "Let me go! For
heaven's sake! ... What are you doing? ..."
She struggled to free herself from those arms of steel, but Sanine
crushed her firm bosom closer, closer to his own, till such barriers as
there had been between them ceased to exist.
Around them, only darkness; the moist odour of the river and the reeds;
an atmosphere now hot, now cold; profound silence. Suddenly,
unaccountably, she lost all power of volition and of thought; her limbs
relaxed, and she surrendered to another's will.