I knowed what the matter was.

That cut bank was an island, and Jim had gone down t'other side of it.

It warn't no towhead that you could float by in ten minutes.

It had the big timber of a regular island; it might be five or six miles long and more than half a mile wide.
I kept quiet, with my ears cocked, about fifteen minutes, I reckon.

I was floating along, of course, four or five miles an hour; but you don't ever think of that.