Well, it WAS pap, sure enough--and sober, too, by the way he laid his oars.
I didn't lose no time.

The next minute I was a-spinning down stream soft but quick in the shade of the bank.

I made two mile and a half, and then struck out a quarter of a mile or more towards the middle of the river, because pretty soon I would be passing the ferry landing, and people might see me and hail me.

I got out amongst the driftwood, and then laid down in the bottom of the canoe and let her float.

I laid there, and had a good rest and a smoke out of my pipe, looking away into the sky; not a cloud in it.