Passage 2

There were shots as I ran. I ducked down, pushed between two men and ran for the river. I tripped at the edge and went in with a splash. The water was icy, but I stayed under until I thought my lungs would burst. The minute I came up I took a breath and plunged down again. Staying under the water was only too easy with so much clothing and my heavy army boots. When I came up for the second time, I saw a piece of timber ahead of me and reached it and held on with both hands. There were no shots now. I looked at the bank, which seemed to be going by very fast. The piece of timber swung in the current but I held on firmly and let it take me along. When I looked again the shore was out of sight.

It was impossible to know how long I was in the river. It seemed a long time but may have only been ten minutes. It was early spring floods of barely-melted snow from the mountain tops that were swirling round me, and the water was unbearably cold. I was lucky to have the heavy timber to hold on to, and I lay with my arms locked round it in an exhausted embrace. Sections of trees and various objects that had been floated off the banks when the river rose raced by me, scratching and hitting me as they passed. It was beginning to be light enough to see the bushes along the muddy river bank. I wondered if I should sacrifice boots and clothes and try to swim ashore, but decided not to. I would be in a bad position if I landed barefoot. I had to get to headquarters somehow.

I watched the shore come close, then swing away, then come closer again, and then the timber began to revolve slowly in the cross-currents of a bend in the river. As I faced the bank again, so close now that I could see branches on a willow tree strong enough to grasp, I tried holding with one arm and swimming with the other to force the timber to the bank, but I did not bring it any closer. I drew up my feet against the side of the timber andshoved hard towards the bank. But although I was exercising all my strength, the current was carrying me away. I thought then I would drown because of my boots, but I fought through the water, and when I looked up, the bank was coming towards me, I kept swimming until I reached it. I clung to the willow branch without the strength to pull myself up, but I knew I would not drown now. I felt exhausted and sick in my stomach and chest from the effort, and I held on to the branches and waited. When the sick feeling was gone, I pulled myself up into a thick bush and rested again, still holding tight. Then I crawled out, pushed on through the willows and on to the bank.

In the river, the writer came up for the first time _________.