BATTLE AND STORM It was yet dark, in fact much darker than it had been just after the fog lifted, and the dawn was a full three hours away.

Although the flooded area of forest on the western shore was much less than on the eastern, it was sufficient to furnish ample concealment for the boat, and, when they tied up amid dense foliage, they could not see the main stream behind them.
Jim Hart laid down his oars, stood up, and carefully cracked his joints.
"I _am_ tired," he said.

"Never wuz I so tired afore in my life." "But, Jim," said Shif'less Sol, "Think what a pow'ful lively naval battle you hev been through.

Ef you ever git a wife--which I doubt, 'cause you ain't beautiful, Jim--you kin tell her how once you rowed right over a great Injun warship.

Mebbe, Jim, she'll believe all them fancy details you'll stick on to it." "I know I ain't beautiful," said Long Jim thoughtfully, "an' I don't know ez I want to be, but ef any woman wuz to marry me she'd most likely believe whatever I told her, bein' ez I hev a truthful countenance, but ez fur you, Sol, anybody kin tell by lookin' at you that ef you wuz to ketch in this river a little cat-fish six inches long you'd tell them that didn't know that it wuz a whale." "Seems to me," said Tom Ross, "that I wuz waked up kinder suddint a few hours ago.