Page 124 - the-adventures-of-tom-sawyer

had a smoke, and then went off through the woods on an
exploring expedition. They tramped gayly along, over de-
caying logs, through tangled underbrush, among solemn
monarchs of the forest, hung from their crowns to the
ground with a drooping regalia of grape-vines. Now and
then they came upon snug nooks carpeted with grass and
jeweled with flowers.
They found plenty of things to be delighted with, but
nothing to be astonished at. They discovered that the island
was about three miles long and a quarter of a mile wide,
and that the shore it lay closest to was only separated from
it by a narrow channel hardly two hundred yards wide.
They took a swim about every hour, so it was close upon
the middle of the afternoon when they got back to camp.
They were too hungry to stop to fish, but they fared sumptu-
ously upon cold ham, and then threw themselves down in
the shade to talk. But the talk soon began to drag, and then
died. The stillness, the solemnity that brooded in the woods,
and the sense of loneliness, began to tell upon the spirits of
the boys. They fell to thinking. A sort of undefined longing
crept upon them. This took dim shape, presently — it was
budding homesickness. Even Finn the Red-Handed was
dreaming of his doorsteps and empty hogsheads. But they
were all ashamed of their weakness, and none was brave
enough to speak his thought.
For some time, now, the boys had been dully conscious
of a peculiar sound in the distance, just as one sometimes is
of the ticking of a clock which he takes no distinct note of.
But now this mysterious sound became more pronounced,

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