Part 8 (2/2)
”Well, then, a horse?”
”The for'rard end, row on?”
”North side”
”If fifteen cows is browsing on a hillside, how many of them eats with their heads pointed the same direction?”
”The whole fifteen, mum”
”Well, I reckon you _have_ lived in the country I thought ain What's your real nae Peters, et and tellit's George Elexander when I catch you And don't go about woirl tolerable poor, but you ht fool men, maybe
Bless you, child, when you set out to thread a needle don't hold the thread still and fetch the needle up to it; hold the needle still and poke the thread at it; that's the way a woman most always does, but a man always does t'other way And when you throw at a rat or anything, hitch yourself up a tiptoe and fetch your hand up over your head as aard as you can, and miss your rat about six or seven foot Throw stiff-armed from the shoulder, like there was a pivot there for it to turn on, like a girl; not from the wrist and elboith your arirl tries to catch anything in her lap she throws her knees apart; she don't clap theether, the way you did when you catched the lump of lead Why, I spotted you for a boy when you was threading the needle; and I contrived the other things just toto your uncle, Sarah Mary Williaet into trouble you send word to Mrs Judith Loftus, which is et you out of it Keep the river road all the way, and next time you tramp take shoes and socks with you The river road's a rocky one, and your feet'll be in a condition when you get to Goshen, I reckon”
I went up the bank about fifty yards, and then I doubled on ood piece below the house I juh to make the head of the island, and then started across I took off the sun-bonnet, for I didn't want no blinders on then When I was about the in to strike, so I stops and listens; the sound come faint over the water but clear?eleven When I struck the head of the island I never waited to blow, though I was ht into the tiood fire there on a high and dry spot
Then I ju out for our place, a o I landed, and slopped through the tie and into the cavern There Jiround I roused him out and says:
”Git up and hump yourself, Jim! There ain't a minute to lose They're after us!”
Jim never asked no questions, he never said a word; but the way he worked for the next half an hour showed about hoas scared By that ti we had in the world was on our raft, and she was ready to be shoved out from thecove where she was hid We put out the ca, and didn't show a candle outside after that
I took the canoe out from the shore a little piece, and took a look; but if there was a boat around I couldn't see it, for stars and shadows ain't good to see by Then we got out the raft and slipped along down in the shade, past the foot of the island dead still?never saying a word
CHAPTER XII
IT ot below the island at last, and the raft did see to take to the canoe and break for the Illinois shore; and it ell a boat didn't coun in the canoe, or a fishi+ng-line, or anything to eat We was in ruther too ood judg_ on the raft
If the men went to the island I just expect they found the caht for Jim to co the fire never fooled them it warn't no fault of mine I played it as lon on thean to shoe tied up to a towhead in a big bend on the Illinois side, and hacked off cottonwood branches with the hatchet, and covered up the raft with them so she looked like there had been a cave-in in the bank there A tow-head is a sandbar that has cottonwoods on it as thick as harrow-teeth
We had mountains on the Missouri shore and heavy timber on the Illinois side, and the channel was down the Missouri shore at that place, so arn't afraid of anybody running across us We laid there all day, and watched the rafts and steamboats spin down the Missouri shore, and up-bound stea river in thewith that woman; and Jim said she was a smart one, and if she was to start after us herself she wouldn't set down and watch a ca Well, then, I said, why couldn't she tell her husband to fetch a dog? Jim said he bet she did think of it by the tione up-town to get a dog and so they lost all that time, or else ouldn't be here on a towhead sixteen or seventeen e?no, indeedy, ould be in that saain
So I said I didn't care as the reason they didn't get us as long as they didn't
When it was beginning to come on dark we poked our heads out of the cottonwood thicket, and looked up and down and across; nothing in sight; so Ji a weather and rainy, and to keep the things dry Jiwam, and raised it a foot or more above the level of the raft, so now the blankets and all the traps was out of reach of steae made a layer of dirt about five or six inches deep with a frame around it for to hold it to its place; this was to build a fire on in sloppy weather or chilly; the ould keep it fro-oar, too, because one of the othersWe fixed up a short forked stick to hang the old lantern on, because we ht the lantern whenever we see a stea run over; but ouldn't have to light it for up-strea”; for the river was pretty high yet, very low banks being still a little under water; so up-bound boats didn't always run the channel, but hunted easy water
This second night we run between seven and eight hours, with a current that wasover four mile an hour We catched fish and talked, and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness It was kind of sole on our backs looking up at the stars, and we didn't ever feel like talking loud, and it warn't often that we laughed?only a little kind of a low chuckle We hadever happened to us at all?that night, nor the next, nor the next
Every night we passed towns, so but just a shi+ny bed of lights; not a house could you see The fifth night we passed St Louis, and it was like the whole world lit up
In St Petersburg they used to say there enty or thirty thousand people in St Louis, but I never believed it till I see that wonderful spread of lights at two o'clock that still night There warn't a sound there; everybody was asleep
Every night now I used to slip ashore towards ten o'clock at soe, and buy ten or fifteen cents' worth of meal or bacon or other stuff to eat; and so co Pap always said, take a chicken when you get a chance, because if you don't want hiood deed ain't ever forgot I never see pap when he didn't want the chicken himself, but that is what he used to say, anyway