They were covered with a heavy
growth of timber, and Winn knew that in many places the wellnigh
impassable swamps which this concealed extended back a mile or more
from the channel. Otherwise he would have abandoned the skiff and made
the attempt to swim ashore.
The Iowa bluffs rose invitingly on the opposite side of the river. On
them he saw a few scattered settlements, but they were too far away,
and he must wait until the current set him in that direction before
thinking of making a landing. He saw an occasional ferry-boat making
its slow way across the river, but it was always either too far above
him or too far below him for his signals to be noticed, and so the
hours dragged on until it was late afternoon, and Winn was again
beginning to feel the pangs of hunger.
"I can't spend another night in this wretched boat!" he exclaimed
aloud, when he saw that the sun was within an hour of its setting.
"I'll swim the whole width of the river first!"
During the day he had passed a number of small islands, but had not
cared to attempt a landing on them. He knew that he would be even
worse off on an island than in the skiff, and so he had watched them
glide by without giving them any particular thought. Suddenly it
occurred to him that on any one of these islands he might pick up an
oar, a paddle, or at least something that would answer in place of
these, and from that instant they acquired a new interest.
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