“Thought he’d got me, sir,” he said, looking white. “I dived down, though, and only come up once, but dove again so as to come up under the trees; and then I found a place where I could pull myself up. It was precious hard, though. I kep’ ’specting one of ’em would pull me back, till I was up yonder; and it arn’t safe there.”
“Why not?” I said.
“There’s great monkeys yonder, and the biggest snake I ever see, Master Nat.”
“But did you not see the boat? Didn’t you see us hunting for you?” said my uncle angrily.
“No, sir; I had all I could do to swim to one of the trees, diving down so as the ’gators shouldn’t see me; and when I did get up into the tree, you’d gone back down the river, so that I couldn’t see nothing of you.”
“But why didn’t you shout, Pete?” said the carpenter. “Everyone’s been afraid you was drowned.”
“Who was going to shout when there was a great snake curled up in knots like a ship’s fender right over your head? Think I wanted to wake him up? Then there was two great monkeys.”
“Great monkeys!” said my uncle. “Pray, how big were they?”
“Dunno, sir, but they looked a tidy size, and whenever I moved they begun to make faces and call me names.”
“What did they call you, Pete?” I said.