I was jest a-gittin' de grapes when I seed a'most a thousand Injuns a-comin,' an' I dun run my life a'most out a-gittin' here.

Dey did not see me, but I seed dem, an' I tell you dey's de biggest Injuns you ever did see.

I 'clar dey's mos' as tall as trees." "How many of 'em are there, Joe ?" asked Tom standing up.
"I couldn't count 'em e'zactly, Mas' Tom, but I reckon dey's not less'n a thousand of 'em,--maybe two thousan' for all I know." "Where are they, and what were they doing ?" asked Tom; but before Joe could answer, the voices of the Indians themselves indicated their whereabouts, and Tom discerned that they were disagreeably close to his elbow.
Seeking a place in which to cook their breakfast the savages had selected the corner formed by the root fortress and the drift-pile as a proper place for a fire, and were now breaking up sticks with which to start one.

They were just outside the fortress, and either of the boys could have touched them by pushing his arm out between the roots.

Tom motioned the others to keep absolutely silent, and going a little way into the hammock, through the passage way he managed to find a place from which he could see the intruders.