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.