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70 THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN. |
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two mile er more to whah dey warn't no houses. I'd made up my mine 'bout what Fs agwyne to do. You see ef I kep' on tryin' to git away afoot, de dogs 'ud track me ; ef I stole a skift to cross over, dey'd miss dat skift, you see, en dey'd know 'bout whah I'd Ian' on de yuther side en whah to pick up my track. So I says, a raff is what I's arter; it doan' make no
track.
" I see a light a-comin' roun' de p'int, bymeby, so I wade' in en shove' a log ahead o' me, en swum more'n half-way acrost de river, en got in 'mongst de drift-wood, en kep' my head down low, en kinder swum agin de current tell de raff come along. Den I swum to de stern uv it, en tuck aholt. It clouded up en 'uz pooty dark for a little while. So I dumb up en laid down on de planks. De men 'uz all 'way yonder in de middle, whah de lantern wuz. De river wuz arisin' en dey wuz a good current; so I reckVd 'at by fo' in de mawnin' I'd be twenty-five mile down de river, en den I'd slip in, jis' b'fo' daylight, en swim asho' en take to de woods on de lllitioi side.
" But I didn' have no luck. When we 'uz mos' down to de head er de islan', a man begin to come aft wid de lantern. I see it warn't no use fer to wait, so I slid overboad, en struck out fer de islan'. Well, I had a notion I could Ian' mos' anywhers, but I couldn't—bank too bluff. I 'uz mos' to de foot er de islan' b'fo' I foun' a good place. I went into de woods en jedged I wouldn' fool wid raffs no mo', long as dey move de lantern roun' so. I had my pipe en a plug er dog-leg, en some matches in my cap, en dey warn't wet, so I 'uz all right."
"And so you ain't had no meat nor bread to eat all this time? Why didn't you get mud-turkles ?"
" How you gwyne to git'm ? You can't slip up on urn en grab um; en how's a body gwyne to hit um wid a rock ? How could a »body do it in de night ? en I warn't gwyne to show mysef on de bank in de daytime."
" Well, that's so. You've had to keep in the woods all the time, of course. Did you hear 'em shooting the cannon ?"
"Oh, yes. I knowed dey was arter you. I see um go by heah ; watched um fchoo de bushes."
Some young birds come along, flying a yard or two at a time and lighting. |
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