noon
Morning found him in mid-stream , between two wooded banks , as wild as primeval wilderness , apparently . The sun , which rose in a white mist , struck through at last , and the soft light poured in first on one side then on the other as the boat swirled around . Once the squirrels barking in near-by trees awakened the man 's dim consciousness , but a few minutes later he was in mid-stream , making a crossing where the river was miles wide . He passed Hickman just before dawn , and toward noon he dropped by New Madrid , and the slumping of high , caving banks pounded in his ears down three miles of changing channel . Then the boat crossed to the other side and he lay there with eyes seared and staring . He discovered a grave stone poised upon the river bank , but he could not tell whether it was fancy or fact that the ominous thing bent toward him and fell with a splash into the river , while a wave tossed his boat on its way . He heard a quavering whine that grew louder until it became a shriek , and then fell away into silence , but his senses were slow in connecting it with one of the Tiptonville cotton gins .