"See, I am very much alive.

Let me tell you--that will be the quickest way to understand.

In the first place I did not drown when the boat was smashed, but was rendered helpless and borne away on the water.
I drifted through the darkness out into the Mississippi, and later became caught on a snag in the middle of that stream.

The _Adventurer_ rescued me about daylight the next morning, and I was no sooner on board than I was told how the keel-boat had been run down below on the river during the night and that your party had all been saved--two white men and two negress slaves.

Of course, I knew you must be one of them." "Then--then we were actually together, on the same boat, all the way up here ?" "Yes; I tried hard to find where you were concealed on board, but failed.
I might not have helped you, but I thought you would be glad to know I was alive.