"Then what made yew ask me, if yew know'd it so well?" demanded the Yankee, indignantly. "Yew git eout! kan' a feller-being take a ride if he wants tew?"
"Certainly."
"Waal, I was a-coming down the river, and I thought I'd ruther ride than walk, so I took to the water. But look a here, darn and blast sech contrary logs as that thar. I've bin pitched neck and crop inter the water four times in the last five miles, and darn my ear ef this ain't the trewest thing I've said this good while. I got along a darned sight better when I could get my foot on the bottom and steer that way. Yes I did."
"How far have you come?"
"I dunno nothing 'bout distances in these dangerous woods. It might have bin ten miles an' it might have bin twenty, I dunno."
"Do you travel without arms?"
"Not by a darned sight, I don't! What dew yew call them things?"
He stretched out a pair of arms nearly as long as an ordinary man's leg.
"Pshaw! I mean have you no weapons."
"Got a jack-knife," replied the Yankee, coolly.