ctor there.

"Well, go on, Joe," said Tom, "and tell me your plan, maybe it's a good
one."

"Course it's a good un. I dun tell you dat fust."

"Well, what is it?"

"Mas' Tom, don't you know Mas' Sam always begins 'way back whar' he's
been thinkin' an' tells all dat fust so you kin see all de why's and
wharfores?"

"Yes; but what has that to do with your plan, Joe?"

"Nothin', only dat's de way I'se gwine to 'splain my plan, I'se dun
begun way back whar I'se dun been thinkin', an' I'se gwine to tell all
'bout dat fust. Den you'll understan' de whys and wharfores. You mus'n't
hurry me, Mas' Tom, dat's all."

"All right, tell it your own way, Joe," said Tom, laughing.

"No, I'se gwine to tell it Mas' Sam's way. Well, you see dey ain't no
doctor here an' we can't git one to come here neither. So we must take
Mas' Sam to whar' dey is doctors, do you see?"

"That's all very well," said Tom, "but how are we to do that?"

"Now you'se hurryin' me again, Mas' Tom. Dat's just what I'se a-comin'
to. 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. 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