"Mark Twain. Tom Sawyer Abroad (англ.)" - читать интересную книгу автора

and Pharaoh and the other prophets. He was a Presbyterian, and had a most
deep respect for Moses which was a Presbyterian, too, he said. He was all
stirred up, and says:
"Hit's de lan' of Egypt, de lan' of Egypt, en I's 'lowed to look at it
wid my own eyes! En dah's de river dat was turn' to blood, en I's looking
at de very same groun' whah de plagues was, en de lice, en de frogs, en de
locus', en de hail, en whah dey marked de door-pos', en de angel o' de
Lord come by in de darkness o' de night en slew de fust-born in all de
lan' o' Egypt. Ole Jim ain't worthy to see dis day!"
And then he just broke down and cried, he was so thankful. So between
him and Tom there was talk enough, Jim being excited because the land was
so full of history-Joseph and his brethren, Moses in the bulrushers, Jacob
coming down into Egypt to buy corn, the silver cup in the sack, and all
them interesting things; and Tom just as excited too, because the land was
so full of history that was in HIS line, about Noureddin, and Bedreddin,
and such like monstrous giants, that made Jim's wool rise, and a raft of
other Arabian Nights folks, which the half of them never done the things
they let on they done, I don't believe.
Then we struck a disappointment, for one of them early morning fogs
started up, and it warn't no use to sail over the top of it, because we
would go by Egypt, sure, so we judged it was best to set her by compass
straight for the place where the pyramids was gitting blurred and blotted
out, and then drop low and skin along pretty close to the ground and keep
a sharp lookout. Tom took the hellum, I stood by to let go the anchor, and
Jim he straddled the bow to dig through the fog with his eyes and watch
out for danger ahead. We went along a steady gait, but not very fast, and
the fog got solider and solider, so solid that Jim looked dim and ragged
and smoky through it. It was awful still, and we talked low and was
anxious. Now and then Jim would say:
"Highst her a p'int, Mars Tom, highst her!" and up she would skip, a
foot or two, and we would slide right over a flat-roofed mud cabin, with
people that had been asleep on it just beginning to turn out and gap and
stretch; and once when a feller was clear up on his hind legs so he could
gap and stretch better, we took him a blip in the back and knocked him
off. By and by, after about an hour, and everything dead still and we
a-straining our ears for sounds and holding our breath, the fog thinned a
little, very sudden, and Jim sung out in an awful scare:
"Oh, for de lan's sake, set her back, Mars Tom, here's de biggest giant
outen de 'Rabian Nights acomin' for us!" and he went over backwards in the
boat.
Tom slammed on the back-action, and as we slowed to a standstill a
man's face as big as our house at home looked in over the gunnel, same as
a house looks out of its windows, and I laid down and died. I must 'a'
been clear dead and gone for as much as a minute or more; then I come to,
and Tom had hitched a boathook on to the lower lip of the giant and was
holding the balloon steady with it whilst he canted his head back and got
a good long look up at that awful face.
Jim was on his knees with his hands clasped, gazing up at the thing in
a begging way, and working his lips, but not getting anything out. I took
only just a glimpse, and was fading out again, but Tom says: