So for hours it drifted, now bow on, then broadside to, and as often stern first; here caught and spun round by an eddy, then tossed aside and allowed to proceed on its unguided course.

The cotton-woods on the tow-heads beckoned to it with their trembling fingers; but it paid no heed.

Grim snags lay in wait for it, but it nimbly avoided them, and as the hours passed each one of them saw the drifting skiff some miles farther away from the island at which this strange voyage was begun.
When Winn finally awoke, he was so bewildered, and so much at a loss to account for his surroundings, that for a minute he lay motionless, collecting his scattered senses.

It certainly was late in the day, for the sun was shining full upon him from high in the heavens.

He had that comfort at least; but oh! how he ached from lying on that hard floor, and how faint he was from hunger.
The boy's head rested on a thwart, and he faced the after-end of the skiff.