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| I was away below the ferry now. I rose up, and there was Jackson’s Island, about two mile and a half down stream, heavy timbered and standing up out of the middle of the river, big and dark and solid, like a steamboat without any lights. There warn’t any signs of the bar at the head—it was all under water now. | I was pretty far downstream from the ferry now. I sat up and saw Jackson’s Island rising up out of the middle of the river about two-and-a-half miles downstream. It was big and dark and solid, and covered in trees. There weren’t any signs of the sandbar up ahead because it was all under water now. |
| It didn’t take me long to get there. I shot past the head at a ripping rate, the current was so swift, and then I got into the dead water and landed on the side towards the Illinois shore. I run the canoe into a deep dent in the bank that I knowed about; I had to part the willow branches to get in; and when I made fast nobody could a seen the canoe from the outside. | It didn’t take me long to make my way to the island. The current was so swift that I quickly shot past the head of the island. Then I reach the still waters and landed the canoe on the side of the island toward the Illinois shoreline. I parted the willow branches and ran the canoe into a deep dent in the riverbank that I knew about. Nobody could have seen the canoe from the water once I’d secured it in place. |
| I went up and set down on a log at the head of the island, and looked out on the big river and the black driftwood and away over to the town, three mile away, where there was three or four lights twinkling. A monstrous big lumber-raft was about a mile up stream, coming along down, with a lantern in the middle of it. I watched it come creeping down, and when it was most abreast of where I stood I heard a man say, “Stern oars, there! heave her head to stabboard!” I heard that just as plain as if the man was by my side. |
I went up the riverbank, sat down on a log at the head of the island. I
looked out over the big river and the black driftwood, and I could see three
or four lights twinkling in the town about three miles away. About a mile
upriver I could see a giant log raft with a lantern in the middle. I watched
it float slowly down. When it was almost directly in front of me I heard a
man say, “
Sternback of the boat Stern oars, there! Turn the boat tostarboardright side of the boat starboard !” just as clearly as if he was standing right next to me. |
| There was a little gray in the sky now; so I stepped into the woods, and laid down for a nap before breakfast. | The sky had turned a little bit gray by this time, so I stepped into the woods and lay down for a nap before breakfast. |
Popular pages: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
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