172 ALMOST DROWNED. 



.afloat, an' wur tearin' down the crick to the Dead Hoss 

 Falls, about a couple o' miles below ! That wur the 

 sitooation this coon wur hitched to ! 



" I knew, o' coorse, that ef I got pitched down the 

 falls, the shanty'd be smashed to raggles; an' I guess 

 thur wouldn't be much o' me left arter shootin' down 

 the rocks fur two hunderd feet. 



" Thur wa'n't a spark o' light in the sky, an' o' coorse 

 /'d nothin' as'd light any more'n a grampus. 



" Wai, you'll say, why didn't I make fur the door, 

 an' get straddled on top o' the shanty ? That wur the 

 very thing I wished to do, but I cudn't make out the 

 door nohow. The hull box wur pitchin' an thumpin' 

 along, hittin' agin stumps an' rocks in sich a way that 

 I no sooner got on my scrapers than it'd wheel over, 

 an' bang I'd go clur agin the other side ! I didn't know, 

 o' coorse, which side wur up an' which side wur down 

 all this time ; but arter a spell o' crackin' around in this 

 way, in a suddint thump I got a whammel, an' wur 

 thro wed, lucky enuff, slap through the door, which wur 

 now on the under side, like a trap-door in the floor. 



" Wai, I thort 'twur all over wi' me. I wur a-goin' 

 down an' down, till I wur a'most stifled. But feelin' I 

 wur free o' the shanty, I struck out an' kem to the sur- 

 face in time to save m'self from bustin'. 



" 'Twur as dark as the inside o' a buffler ; but I cud 

 jest get a glimp o' the shanty wheelin' around in an 

 eddy. I med torst it, an' soon got straddled on top. I 

 knew by this time that I must be clost to the falls, an' 



