I felt very big, and ran on ahead of my mother until she called to me to stop for fear of my falling into the water.

We had come down to the big river.

I could hardly see the other side of it.

The whole scene now grows misty and dim; but I remember a boat coming to the shore, and out of it stepped John Rucker.
Whether he was then kind or cross to me or to my mother I can not remember.

Probably my mind was too young to notice any difference less than that between love and cruelty.