They stood about in awe till one of the older hunters knelt, reached out, and dug his hand into the innocent looking sand.

Instantly he leaped to his feet and jumped back.
"The sucking sand!" he cried.

"To the raft!" They skirted the dangerous quicksands and dashed along the banks to discover that their raft was gone.

Vishnu, then, as reincarnated, required solid transportation, after the manner of human beings?
They became angry.

A raft was a raft, substantial, necessary; and there was no reason why a god who had ten thousand temples for his own should stoop to rob a poor man of his wherewithal to travel in safety.
"The mugger!" exclaimed one, "let the high priestess beware of the mugger, for he is strong enough to tip over the raft!" Nearly every village which lies close to a stream has its family crocodile.