In the darkness--all lights were concealed as much as possible--with both banks of the vast river hidden from them, they felt that they were in very truth afloat upon a flowing ocean.
They knew little about their journey, except that they were destined for the eastern shore, the same upon which Grand Gulf stood, but they did not worry about this lack of knowledge.

They were willing to trust to Grant, and most of them were already asleep, upon the decks, in the cabins, or in any place in which a human body could secure a position.
Dick did not sleep.

The feeling of mystery and might made by the tremendous river remained longer in his sensitive and imaginative nature.

His mind, too, looked backward.

He knew that the great grandfathers of Harry Kenton and himself, the famous Henry Ware and the famous Paul Cotter, had passed up and down this monarch of streams.
He knew of their adventures.