.~age 7~	69


narrow when we went up arid she look like a lamb; but when we corne down it had done arid tuck arid rained and dem banks was vanished ... but dat water sho did rare up dar to git back in its regular channel. De rocks up dar was mo‘ scarft 1ookin~ dat dey is whar it run through Union to Columbia. Dat night we run into a nine~..mi1e shoal. Couldn‘t none de niggers keep dat boat off‘n dat shoal it was so powerful ... dat is, de water just tuck dat boat plumb smack out‘n our I~ands. But it throwed our boat in shallow water and o~ course dat made it drag. Good dat it never drug over no sharp rocks ~ and dey was setting all around us ~ but it happened dat it hit sand. We camped dar ±‘er de night. By morning we had done go a quarter mile from de channel.

ttWhen we et (ate), we worked de boat out into de main

channel again. Den we staked her to a tree arid tuck a look around beTh‘ we started down stream fer Union; dat seemed fer off right den. Finally de master boatman give de order, ‘Shove off,boys‘ We shoved and we fell into a clear open channel and our boat went a...skeetin~ down stream. We never had to hit a lick, but she went so fast dat we was all skeer‘d to take a long breath. Finally Marster said, ‘Boys, see dem willow trees down yonder; well, 8teer her to run over dem so dat she will slack her speed.‘ Us did, but it never deadened our speed a mite, dat us could see. Marster shake his head arid ‘low, ‘Bound fer hell, maybe, boys‘.
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