Mas' Sam said de other mornin' dat if we was up de river about eight miles furder, de fort would be only six miles away, an' de country would be easy 'nuff to cross.

He dun say we couldn't git up de river, but we _kin_.

You see Mas' Sam was sick, an' dat's de reason he say dat.

Now I dun bin thinkin' of a way to git up de river.

Dey's lots of cane here, an' you an' me kin twis' canes one over de other like de splits in a cha'r bottom, an' dat way, when we gits a dozen big squars of it made, as big both ways as the canes is long, we kin lay 'em on top o' one an' other, an' fasten 'em togedder wid bamboos, an' it'll be a fust-rate raft.