6390. A BAND OF ANGELS

A BAND OF ANGELS

Once I was on the river it was just us, me and

Huck and Jim  -  a half-stupid slave guy and a 

kid, but they each knew more than me a thimble

full. Huck kept saying he 'clumbed' when I figured

he should have said he 'climbed'. But that wasn't

so much important as to know the currents and 

see the river itself as alive  - and these two knew

all that. 'Here comes a regular ripper'  -  Huck 

says that after the riverboat passed us on the 

raft and the big wave that it had pushed 

came right at us. 'A regular ripper.'

 I liked that.