Den you an' me kin pole it up stream, keepin' close to de shore, wid Mas' Sam an' little Miss Judie on it.

When we git up dar, I kin go over to de fort, leavin' you wid Mas' Sam till de folks comes after you all." This was Joe's plan of operations, and upon thinking it over Tom was disposed to think it the best plan possible under the circumstances.
Accordingly he and Joe went to work at once.

They could not make the raft inside the drift-pile, for want of room, but they found a place in the bushes near the mouth of the creek, where they could work unobserved.

They cut down a large number of the flexible green canes, and wove them together into a square net work.

Repeating this operation several times they finally had enough of the squares to make, they thought, a secure raft, when laid one on top of the other.