It was the fit that saved them. In his maniacal contortions he swung
around to Neewa's side of the sapling, when, with their halter once
more free from impediment, Neewa bolted for safety. Miki followed,
yelping at every jump. No longer did Neewa feel a horror of the river.
The instinct of his kind told him that he wanted water, and wanted it
badly. As straight as Challoner might have set his course by a compass
he headed for the stream, but he had proceeded only a few hundred feet
when they came upon a tiny creek across which either of them could have
jumped. Neewa jumped into the water, which was four or five inches
deep, and for the first time in his life Miki voluntarily took a
plunge. For a long time they lay in the cooling rill.