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  • An Electronic Classics Series Publication

  • This illustration and the one on the cover are from aNineteenth Century edition of Mark Twains The Adven-tures of Huckleberry Finn .

    This publication of Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckle-

    berry Finn is a publication of The Electronic Classics Series.This Portable Document file is furnished free and withoutany charge of any kind. Any person using this documentfile, for any purpose, and in any way does so at his or herown risk. Neither the Pennsylvania State University norJim Manis, Editor, nor anyone associated with the Penn-sylvania State University assumes any responsibility forthe material contained within the document or for thefile as an electronic transmission, in any way.

    Mark Twains The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, TheElectronic Classics Series, Jim Manis, Editor, PSU-Hazleton,Hazleton, PA 18202 is a Portable Document File producedas part of an ongoing publication project to bring classi-cal works of literature, in English, to free and easy accessof those wishing to make use of them.

    Jim Manis is a faculty member of the English Departmentof The Pennsylvania State University. This page and anypreceding page(s) are restricted by copyright. The text ofthe following pages are not copyrighted within the UnitedStates; however, the fonts used may be.

    Cover design: Jim Manis

    Copyright 1998 - 2013

    The Pennsylvania State University is an equal opportunity University.

  • THE ADVENTURES OF

    HUCKLEBERRY FINN

    (Tom Sawyers Comrade)

    BY

    MARK TWAIN(Samuel L. Clemens)

    NOTICE

    Persons attempting to find a motive in this narrative willbe prosecuted; persons attempting to find a moral in it willbe banished; persons attempting to find a plot in it will beshot.

    BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR,

    Per G.G., Chief of Ordnance.

    EXPLANATORY

    In this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: theMissouri negro dialect; the extremest form of the back-woods Southwestern dialect; the ordinary Pike County dia-lect; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadingshave not been done in a haphazard fashion, or by guess-work; but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guid-ance and support of personal familiarity with these severalforms of speech.

    I make this explanation for the reason that without itmany readers would suppose that all these characters weretrying to talk alike and not succeeding.

    THE AUTHOR.

    HUCKLEBERRY FINN

    SCENE: THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY

    TIME: FORTY TO FIFTY YEARS AGO

    CHAPTER I.

    You dont know about me without you have read a book bythe name of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that aint nomatter. That book was made by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told

    HUCKLEBERRY FINN

    3

  • the truth, mainly. There was things which he stretched,but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never seenanybody but lied one time or another, without it was AuntPolly, or the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly TomsAunt Polly, she is and Mary, and the Widow Douglas is alltold about in that book, which is mostly a true book, withsome stretchers, as I said before.

    Now the way that the book winds up is this: Tom and mefound the money that the robbers hid in the cave, and itmade us rich. We got six thousand dollars apiece all gold.It was an awful sight of money when it was piled up. Well,Judge Thatcher he took it and put it out at interest, and itfetched us a dollar a day apiece all the year round morethan a body could tell what to do with. The Widow Douglasshe took me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me;but it was rough living in the house all the time, consider-ing how dismal regular and decent the widow was in all herways; and so when I couldnt stand it no longer I lit out. Igot into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, and wasfree and satisfied. But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up andsaid he was going to start a band of robbers, and I might joinif I would go back to the widow and be respectable. So Iwent back.

    The widow she cried over me, and called me a poor lostlamb, and she called me a lot of other names, too, but shenever meant no harm by it. She put me in them new clothesagain, and I couldnt do nothing but sweat and sweat, and

    feel all cramped up. Well, then, the old thing commencedagain. The widow rung a bell for supper, and you had tocome to time. When you got to the table you couldnt goright to eating, but you had to wait for the widow to tuckdown her head and grumble a little over the victuals, thoughthere warnt really anything the matter with them, thatis, nothing only everything was cooked by itself. In a barrelof odds and ends it is different; things get mixed up, andthe juice kind of swaps around, and the things go better.

    After supper she got out her book and learned me aboutMoses and the Bulrushers, and I was in a sweat to find outall about him; but by and by she let it out that Moses hadbeen dead a considerable long time; so then I didnt care nomore about him, because I dont take no stock in deadpeople.

    Pretty soon I wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to letme. But she wouldnt. She said it was a mean practice andwasnt clean, and I must try to not do it any more. That isjust the way with some people. They get down on a thingwhen they dont know nothing about it. Here she was a-bothering about Moses, which was no kin to her, and no useto anybody, being gone, you see, yet finding a power of faultwith me for doing a thing that had some good in it. And shetook snuff, too; of course that was all right, because shedone it herself.

    Her sister, Miss Watson, a tolerable slim old maid, withgoggles on, had just come to live with her, and took a set at

    HUCKLEBERRY FINN

    4

  • me now with a spelling-book. She worked me middlinghard for about an hour, and then the widow made her easeup. I couldnt stood it much longer. Then for an hour it wasdeadly dull, and I was fidgety. Miss Watson would say,Dont put your feet up there, Huckleberry; and Dontscrunch up like that, Huckleberry set up straight; andpretty soon she would say, Dont gap and stretch likethat, Huckleberry why dont you try to behave? Thenshe told me all about the bad place, and I said I wished Iwas there. She got mad then, but I didnt mean no harm. AllI wanted was to go somewheres; all I wanted was a change,I warnt particular. She said it was wicked to say what Isaid; said she wouldnt say it for the whole world; she wasgoing to live so as to go to the good place. Well, I couldntsee no advantage in going where she was going, so I madeup my mind I wouldnt try for it. But I never said so, be-cause it would only make trouble, and wouldnt do no good.

    Now she had got a start, and she went on and told me allabout the good place. She said all a body would have to dothere was to go around all day long with a harp and sing,forever and ever. So I didnt think much of it. But I neversaid so. I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would gothere, and she said not by a considerable sight. I was gladabout that, because I wanted him and me to be together.

    Miss Watson she kept pecking at me, and it got tiresomeand lonesome. By and by they fetched the niggers in andhad prayers, and then everybody was off to bed. I went up

    to my room with a piece of candle, and put it on the table.Then I set down in a chair by the window and tried to thinkof something cheerful, but it warnt no use. I felt so lone-some I most wished I was dead. The stars were shining, andthe leaves rustled in the woods ever so mournful; and I heardan owl, away off, who-whooing about somebody that wasdead, and a whippowill and a dog crying about somebodythat was going to die; and the wind was trying to whispersomething to me, and I couldnt make out what it was, andso it made the cold shivers run over me. Then away out in thewoods I heard that kind of a sound that a ghost makes whenit wants to tell about something thats on its mind and cantmake itself understood, and so cant rest easy in its grave,and has to go about that way every night grieving. I got sodown-hearted and scared I did wish I had some company.Pretty soon a spider went crawling up my shoulder, and Iflipped it off and it lit in the candle; and before I could budgeit was all shriveled up. I didnt need anybody to tell me thatthat was an awful bad sign and would fetch me some badluck, so I was scared and most shook the clothes off of me. Igot up and turned around in my tracks three times and crossedmy breast every time; and then I tied up a little lock of myhair with a thread to keep witches away. But I hadnt noconfidence. You do that when youve lost a horseshoe thatyouve found, instead of nailing it up over the door, but Ihadnt ever heard anybody say it was any way to keep offbad luck when youd killed a spider.

    HUCKLEBERRY FINN

    5

  • I set down again, a-shaking all over, and got out my pipefor a smoke; for the house was all as still as death now, andso the widow wouldnt know. Well, after a long time I heardthe clock away off in the town go boom boom boom twelve licks; and all still again stiller than ever. Prettysoon I heard a twig snap down in the dark amongst thetrees something was a stirring. I set still and listened.Directly I could just barely hear a me-yow! me-yow! downthere. That was good! Says I, me-yow! me-yow! as soft asI could, and then I put out the light and scrambled out ofthe window on to the shed. Then I slipped down to theground and crawled in among the trees, and, sure enough,there was Tom Sawyer waiting for me.

    CHAPTER II.

    We went tiptoeing along a path amongst the trees backtowards the end of the widows garden, stooping down so asthe branches wouldnt scrape our heads. When we was pass-ing by the kitchen I fell over a root and made a noise. Wescrouched down and laid still. Miss Watsons big nigger,named Jim, was setting in the kitchen door; we could seehim pretty clear, because there was a light behind him. Hegot up and stretched his neck out about a minute, listen-ing. Then he says:

    Who dah?He listened some more; then he come tiptoeing down and

    stood right between us; we could a touched him, nearly.Well, likely it was minutes and minutes that there warnt asound, and we all there so close together. There was a placeon my ankle that got to itching, but I dasnt scratch it; andthen my ear begun to itch; and next my back, right be-tween my shoulders. Seemed like Id die if I couldnt scratch.Well, Ive noticed that thing plenty times since. If you arewith the quality, or at a funeral, or trying to go to sleepwhen you aint sleepy if you are anywheres where itwont do for you to scratch, why you will itch all over inupwards of a thousand places. Pretty soon Jim says: Say,who is you? Whar is you? Dog my cats ef I didn hear sumfn.Well, I know what Is gwyne to do: Is gwyne to set downhere and listen tell I hears it agin.

    So he set down on the ground betwixt me and Tom. Heleaned his back up against a tree, and stretched his legs outtill one of them most touched one of mine. My nose begunto itch. It itched till the tears come into my eyes. But Idasnt scratch. Then it begun to itch on the inside. Next Igot to itching underneath. I didnt know how I was going toset still. This miserableness went on as much as six or sevenminutes; but it seemed a sight longer than that. I was itch-ing in eleven different places now. I reckoned I couldntstand it moren a minute longer, but I set my teeth hard andgot ready to try. Just then Jim begun to breathe heavy;next he begun to snore and then I was pretty sooncomfortable again.

    HUCKLEBERRY FINN

    6

  • Tom he made a sign to me kind of a little noise with hismouth and we went creeping away on our hands andknees. When we was ten foot off Tom whispered to me, andwanted to tie Jim to the tree for fun. But I said no; he mightwake and make a disturbance, and then theyd find out Iwarnt in. Then Tom said he hadnt got candles enough, andhe would slip in the kitchen and get some more. I didntwant him to try. I said Jim might wake up and come. But Tomwanted to resk it; so we slid in there and got three candles,and Tom laid five cents on the table for pay. Then we gotout, and I was in a sweat to get away; but nothing would doTom but he must crawl to where Jim was, on his hands andknees, and play something on him. I waited, and it seemed agood while, everything was so still and lonesome.

    As soon as Tom was back we cut along the path, aroundthe garden fence, and by and by fetched up on the steeptop of the hill the other side of the house. Tom said heslipped Jims hat off of his head and hung it on a limb rightover him, and Jim stirred a little, but he didnt wake. After-wards Jim said the witches bewitched him and put him in atrance, and rode him all over the State, and then set himunder the trees again, and hung his hat on a limb to showwho done it. And next time Jim told it he said they rodehim down to New Orleans; and, after that, every time hetold it he spread it more and more, till by and by he saidthey rode him all over the world, and tired him most todeath, and his back was all over saddle-boils. Jim was mon-

    strous proud about it, and he got so he wouldnt hardlynotice the other niggers. Niggers would come miles to hearJim tell about it, and he was more looked up to than anynigger in that country. Strange niggers would stand withtheir mouths open and look him all over, same as if he was awonder. Niggers is always talking about witches in the darkby the kitchen fire; but whenever one was talking and let-ting on to know all about such things, Jim would happen inand say, Hm! What you know bout witches? and that niggerwas corked up and had to take a back seat. Jim always keptthat five-center piece round his neck with a string, andsaid it was a charm the devil give to him with his own hands,and told him he could cure anybody with it and fetch witcheswhenever he wanted to just by saying something to it; buthe never told what it was he said to it. Niggers would comefrom all around there and give Jim anything they had, justfor a sight of that fivecenter piece; but they wouldnt touchit, because the devil had had his hands on it. Jim was mostruined for a servant, because he got stuck up on account ofhaving seen the devil and been rode by witches.

    Well, when Tom and me got to the edge of the hilltop welooked away down into the village and could see three orfour lights twinkling, where there was sick folks, maybe;and the stars over us was sparkling ever so fine; and downby the village was the river, a whole mile broad, and awfulstill and grand. We went down the hill and found Jo Harperand Ben Rogers, and two or three more of the boys, hid in

    HUCKLEBERRY FINN

    7

  • the old tanyard. So we unhitched a skiff and pulled downthe river two mile and a half, to the big scar on the hillside,and went ashore.

    We went to a clump of bushes, and Tom made everybodyswear to keep the secret, and then showed them a hole inthe hill, right in the thickest part of the bushes. Then welit the candles, and crawled in on our hands and knees. Wewent about two hundred yards, and then the cave openedup. Tom poked about amongst the passages, and pretty soonducked under a wall where you wouldnt a noticed that therewas a hole. We went along a narrow place and got into akind of room, all damp and sweaty and cold, and there westopped. Tom says:

    Now, well start this band of robbers and call it TomSawyers Gang. Everybody that wants to join has got to takean oath, and write his name in blood.

    Everybody was willing. So Tom got out a sheet of paperthat he had wrote the oath on, and read it. It swore everyboy to stick to the band, and never tell any of the secrets;and if anybody done anything to any boy in the band,whichever boy was ordered to kill that person and his fam-ily must do it, and he mustnt eat and he mustnt sleep tillhe had killed them and hacked a cross in their breasts, whichwas the sign of the band. And nobody that didnt belong tothe band could use that mark, and if he did he must besued; and if he done it again he must be killed. And if any-body that belonged to the band told the secrets, he must

    have his throat cut, and then have his carcass burnt up andthe ashes scattered all around, and his name blotted off ofthe list with blood and never mentioned again by the gang,but have a curse put on it and be forgot forever.

    Everybody said it was a real beautiful oath, and asked Tomif he got it out of his own head. He said, some of it, but therest was out of pirate-books and robber-books, and everygang that was high-toned had it.

    Some thought it would be good to kill the families of boysthat told the secrets. Tom said it was a good idea, so he tooka pencil and wrote it in. Then Ben Rogers says:

    Heres Huck Finn, he haint got no family; what you go-ing to do bout him?

    Well, haint he got a father? says Tom Sawyer.Yes, hes got a father, but you cant never find him these

    days. He used to lay drunk with the hogs in the tanyard,but he haint been seen in these parts for a year or more.

    They talked it over, and they was going to rule me out,because they said every boy must have a family or some-body to kill, or else it wouldnt be fair and square for theothers. Well, nobody could think of anything to do ev-erybody was stumped, and set still. I was most ready to cry;but all at once I thought of a way, and so I offered them MissWatson they could kill her. Everybody said:

    Oh, shell do. Thats all right. Huck can come in.Then they all stuck a pin in their fingers to get blood to

    sign with, and I made my mark on the paper.

    8

    HUCKLEBERRY FINN

  • Now, says Ben Rogers, whats the line of business ofthis Gang?

    Nothing only robbery and murder, Tom said.But who are we going to rob? houses, or cattle,

    or Stuff! stealing cattle and such things aint robbery; its

    burglary, says Tom Sawyer. We aint burglars. That aintno sort of style. We are highwaymen. We stop stages andcarriages on the road, with masks on, and kill the peopleand take their watches and money.

    Must we always kill the people?Oh, certainly. Its best. Some authorities think different,

    but mostly its considered best to kill them except somethat you bring to the cave here, and keep them till theyreransomed.

    Ransomed? Whats that?I dont know. But thats what they do. Ive seen it in

    books; and so of course thats what weve got to do.But how can we do it if we dont know what it is?

    Why, blame it all, weve GOT to do it. Dont I tell you itsin the books? Do you want to go to doing different fromwhats in the books, and get things all muddled up?

    Oh, thats all very fine to say, Tom Sawyer, but how in thenation are these fellows going to be ransomed if we dontknow how to do it to them? thats the thing I want toget at. Now, what do you reckon it is?

    Well, I dont know. But peraps if we keep them till theyre

    ransomed, it means that we keep them till theyre dead.Now, thats something like. Thatll answer. Why couldnt

    you said that before? Well keep them till theyre ransomedto death; and a bothersome lot theyll be, too eating upeverything, and always trying to get loose.

    How you talk, Ben Rogers. How can they get loose whentheres a guard over them, ready to shoot them down if theymove a peg?

    A guard! Well, that is good. So somebodys got to set upall night and never get any sleep, just so as to watch them.I think thats foolishness. Why cant a body take a club andransom them as soon as they get here?

    Because it aint in the books so thats why. Now, BenRogers, do you want to do things regular, or dont you? thats the idea. Dont you reckon that the people that madethe books knows whats the correct thing to do? Do youreckon YOU can learn em anything? Not by a good deal. No,sir, well just go on and ransom them in the regular way.

    All right. I dont mind; but I say its a fool way, anyhow.Say, do we kill the women, too?

    Well, Ben Rogers, if I was as ignorant as you I wouldntlet on. Kill the women? No; nobody ever saw anything inthe books like that. You fetch them to the cave, and yourealways as polite as pie to them; and by and by they fall inlove with you, and never want to go home any more.

    Well, if thats the way Im agreed, but I dont take nostock in it. Mighty soon well have the cave so cluttered up

    HUCKLEBERRY FINN

    9

  • with women, and fellows waiting to be ransomed, thatthere wont be no place for the robbers. But go ahead, Iaint got nothing to say.

    Little Tommy Barnes was asleep now, and when they wakedhim up he was scared, and cried, and said he wanted to gohome to his ma, and didnt want to be a robber any more.

    So they all made fun of him, and called him crybaby, andthat made him mad, and he said he would go straight andtell all the secrets. But Tom give him five cents to keepquiet, and said we would all go home and meet next week,and rob somebody and kill some people.

    Ben Rogers said he couldnt get out much, only Sundays,and so he wanted to begin next Sunday; but all the boyssaid it would be wicked to do it on Sunday, and that settledthe thing. They agreed to get together and fix a day as soonas they could, and then we elected Tom Sawyer first captainand Jo Harper second captain of the Gang, and so startedhome.

    I clumb up the shed and crept into my window just beforeday was breaking. My new clothes was all greased up andclayey, and I was dogtired.

    CHAPTER III.

    Well, I got a good going-over in the morning from old MissWatson on account of my clothes; but the widow she didntscold, but only cleaned off the grease and clay, and looked

    so sorry that I thought I would behave awhile if I could.Then Miss Watson she took me in the closet and prayed, butnothing come of it. She told me to pray every day, andwhatever I asked for I would get it. But it warnt so. I triedit. Once I got a fish-line, but no hooks. It warnt any goodto me without hooks. I tried for the hooks three or fourtimes, but somehow I couldnt make it work. By and by, oneday, I asked Miss Watson to try for me, but she said I was afool. She never told me why, and I couldnt make it out noway.

    I set down one time back in the woods, and had a longthink about it. I says to myself, if a body can get anythingthey pray for, why dont Deacon Winn get back the moneyhe lost on pork? Why cant the widow get back her silversnuffbox that was stole? Why cant Miss Watson fat up? No,says I to my self, there aint nothing in it. I went and toldthe widow about it, and she said the thing a body could getby praying for it was spiritual gifts. This was too many forme, but she told me what she meant I must help otherpeople, and do everything I could for other people, and lookout for them all the time, and never think about myself.This was including Miss Watson, as I took it. I went out inthe woods and turned it over in my mind a long time, but Icouldnt see no advantage about it except for the otherpeople; so at last I reckoned I wouldnt worry about it anymore, but just let it go. Sometimes the widow would take meone side and talk about Providence in a way to make a

    HUCKLEBERRY FINN

    10

  • bodys mouth water; but maybe next day Miss Watson wouldtake hold and knock it all down again. I judged I could seethat there was two Providences, and a poor chap wouldstand considerable show with the widows Providence, but ifMiss Watsons got him there warnt no help for him anymore. I thought it all out, and reckoned I would belong tothe widows if he wanted me, though I couldnt make outhow he was a-going to be any better off then than what hewas before, seeing I was so ignorant, and so kind of low-down and ornery.

    Pap he hadnt been seen for more than a year, and thatwas comfortable for me; I didnt want to see him no more.He used to always whale me when he was sober and couldget his hands on me; though I used to take to the woodsmost of the time when he was around. Well, about this timehe was found in the river drownded, about twelve mile abovetown, so people said. They judged it was him, anyway; saidthis drownded man was just his size, and was ragged, andhad uncommon long hair, which was all like pap; but theycouldnt make nothing out of the face, because it had beenin the water so long it warnt much like a face at all. Theysaid he was floating on his back in the water. They took himand buried him on the bank. But I warnt comfortable long,because I happened to think of something. I knowed mightywell that a drownded man dont float on his back, but onhis face. So I knowed, then, that this warnt pap, but awoman dressed up in a mans clothes. So I was uncomfort-

    able again. I judged the old man would turn up again byand by, though I wished he wouldnt.

    We played robber now and then about a month, and then Iresigned. All the boys did. We hadnt robbed nobody, hadntkilled any people, but only just pretended. We used to hopout of the woods and go charging down on hog-drivers andwomen in carts taking garden stuff to market, but we neverhived any of them. Tom Sawyer called the hogs ingots, andhe called the turnips and stuff julery, and we would go tothe cave and powwow over what we had done, and howmany people we had killed and marked. But I couldnt see noprofit in it. One time Tom sent a boy to run about town witha blazing stick, which he called a slogan (which was the signfor the Gang to get together), and then he said he had gotsecret news by his spies that next day a whole parcel ofSpanish merchants and rich A-rabs was going to camp in CaveHollow with two hundred elephants, and six hundred cam-els, and over a thousand sumter mules, all loaded downwith dimonds, and they didnt have only a guard of fourhundred soldiers, and so we would lay in ambuscade, as hecalled it, and kill the lot and scoop the things. He said wemust slick up our swords and guns, and get ready. He nevercould go after even a turnip-cart but he must have the swordsand guns all scoured up for it, though they was only lathand broomsticks, and you might scour at them till you rot-ted, and then they warnt worth a mouthful of ashes morethan what they was before. I didnt believe we could lick

    HUCKLEBERRY FINN

    11

  • such a crowd of Spaniards and A-rabs, but I wanted to seethe camels and elephants, so I was on hand next day, Satur-day, in the ambuscade; and when we got the word we rushedout of the woods and down the hill. But there warnt noSpaniards and A-rabs, and there warnt no camels nor no el-ephants. It warnt anything but a Sunday-school picnic, andonly a primer-class at that. We busted it up, and chased thechildren up the hollow; but we never got anything but somedoughnuts and jam, though Ben Rogers got a rag doll, andJo Harper got a hymnbook and a tract; and then the teachercharged in, and made us drop everything and cut. I didntsee no dimonds, and I told Tom Sawyer so. He said there wasloads of them there, anyway; and he said there was Arabsthere, too, and elephants and things. I said, why couldnt wesee them, then? He said if I warnt so ignorant, but had reada book called Don Quixote, I would know without asking. Hesaid it was all done by enchantment. He said there was hun-dreds of soldiers there, and elephants and treasure, and soon, but we had enemies which he called magicians; and theyhad turned the whole thing into an infant Sundayschool,just out of spite. I said, all right; then the thing for us to dowas to go for the magicians. Tom Sawyer said I was a num-skull.

    Why, said he, a magician could call up a lot of genies,and they would hash you up like nothing before you couldsay Jack Robinson. They are as tall as a tree and as bigaround as a church.

    Well, I says, spose we got some genies to help us cant we lick the other crowd then?

    How you going to get them?I dont know. How do they get them?Why, they rub an old tin lamp or an iron ring, and then the

    genies come tearing in, with the thunder and lightning a-rippingaround and the smoke a-rolling, and everything theyre told todo they up and do it. They dont think nothing of pulling a shot-tower up by the roots, and belting a Sunday-school superinten-dent over the head with it or any other man.

    Who makes them tear around so?Why, whoever rubs the lamp or the ring. They belong towhoever rubs the lamp or the ring, and theyve got to dowhatever he says. If he tells them to build a palace fortymiles long out of dimonds, and fill it full of chewing-gum,or whatever you want, and fetch an emperors daughterfrom China for you to marry, theyve got to do it andtheyve got to do it before sun-up next morning, too. Andmore: theyve got to waltz that palace around over the countrywherever you want it, you understand.

    Well, says I, I think they are a pack of flatheads for notkeeping the palace themselves stead of fooling them awaylike that. And whats more if I was one of them I wouldsee a man in Jericho before I would drop my business andcome to him for the rubbing of an old tin lamp.

    How you talk, Huck Finn. Why, youd have to come whenhe rubbed it, whether you wanted to or not.

    HUCKLEBERRY FINN

    12

  • What! and I as high as a tree and as big as a church? Allright, then; I would come; but I lay Id make that man climbthe highest tree there was in the country.

    Shucks, it aint no use to talk to you, Huck Finn. Youdont seem to know anything, somehow perfect saphead.

    I thought all this over for two or three days, and then Ireckoned I would see if there was anything in it. I got anold tin lamp and an iron ring, and went out in the woodsand rubbed and rubbed till I sweat like an Injun, calculat-ing to build a palace and sell it; but it warnt no use, noneof the genies come. So then I judged that all that stuff wasonly just one of Tom Sawyers lies. I reckoned he believed inthe A-rabs and the elephants, but as for me I think differ-ent. It had all the marks of a Sunday-school.

    CHAPTER IV.

    Well, three or four months run along, and it was well intothe winter now. I had been to school most all the time andcould spell and read and write just a little, and could say themultiplication table up to six times seven is thirty-five, andI dont reckon I could ever get any further than that if I wasto live forever. I dont take no stock in mathematics, any-way.

    At first I hated the school, but by and by I got so I couldstand it. Whenever I got uncommon tired I played hookey,and the hiding I got next day done me good and cheered

    me up. So the longer I went to school the easier it got tobe. I was getting sort of used to the widows ways, too, andthey warnt so raspy on me. Living in a house and sleepingin a bed pulled on me pretty tight mostly, but before thecold weather I used to slide out and sleep in the woodssometimes, and so that was a rest to me. I liked the oldways best, but I was getting so I liked the new ones, too, alittle bit. The widow said I was coming along slow but sure,and doing very satisfactory. She said she warnt ashamed ofme.

    One morning I happened to turn over the salt-cellar atbreakfast. I reached for some of it as quick as I could tothrow over my left shoulder and keep off the bad luck, butMiss Watson was in ahead of me, and crossed me off. Shesays, Take your hands away, Huckleberry; what a mess youare always making! The widow put in a good word for me,but that warnt going to keep off the bad luck, I knowedthat well enough. I started out, after breakfast, feeling wor-ried and shaky, and wondering where it was going to fall onme, and what it was going to be. There is ways to keep offsome kinds of bad luck, but this wasnt one of them kind;so I never tried to do anything, but just poked along low-spirited and on the watch-out.

    I went down to the front garden and clumb over the stilewhere you go through the high board fence. There was aninch of new snow on the ground, and I seen somebodystracks. They had come up from the quarry and stood around

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  • the stile a while, and then went on around the garden fence.It was funny they hadnt come in, after standing around so.I couldnt make it out. It was very curious, somehow. I wasgoing to follow around, but I stooped down to look at thetracks first. I didnt notice anything at first, but next I did.There was a cross in the left boot-heel made with big nails,to keep off the devil.

    I was up in a second and shinning down the hill. I lookedover my shoulder every now and then, but I didnt see no-body. I was at Judge Thatchers as quick as I could get there.He said:

    Why, my boy, you are all out of breath. Did you come foryour interest?

    No, sir, I says; is there some for me?Oh, yes, a half-yearly is in last night over a hundred

    and fifty dollars. Quite a fortune for you. You had better letme invest it along with your six thousand, because if youtake it youll spend it.

    No, sir, I says, I dont want to spend it. I dont want itat all nor the six thousand, nuther. I want you to take it;I want to give it to you the six thousand and all.

    He looked surprised. He couldnt seem to make it out. Hesays:

    Why, what can you mean, my boy?I says, Dont you ask me no questions about it, please.

    Youll take it wont you?He says:

    Well, Im puzzled. Is something the matter?Please take it, says I, and dont ask me nothing then

    I wont have to tell no lies.He studied a while, and then he says:Oho-o! I think I see. You want to sell all your property to

    me not give it. Thats the correct idea.Then he wrote something on a paper and read it over, and

    says:There; you see it says for a consideration. That means I

    have bought it of you and paid you for it. Heres a dollar foryou. Now you sign it.

    So I signed it, and left.Miss Watsons nigger, Jim, had a hair-ball as big as your

    fist, which had been took out of the fourth stomach of anox, and he used to do magic with it. He said there was aspirit inside of it, and it knowed everything. So I went tohim that night and told him pap was here again, for I foundhis tracks in the snow. What I wanted to know was, what hewas going to do, and was he going to stay? Jim got out hishair-ball and said something over it, and then he held it upand dropped it on the floor. It fell pretty solid, and onlyrolled about an inch. Jim tried it again, and then anothertime, and it acted just the same. Jim got down on his knees,and put his ear against it and listened. But it warnt no use;he said it wouldnt talk. He said sometimes it wouldnt talkwithout money. I told him I had an old slick counterfeitquarter that warnt no good because the brass showed

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  • through the silver a little, and it wouldnt pass nohow,even if the brass didnt show, because it was so slick it feltgreasy, and so that would tell on it every time. (I reckonedI wouldnt say nothing about the dollar I got from thejudge.) I said it was pretty bad money, but maybe the hair-ball would take it, because maybe it wouldnt know thedifference. Jim smelt it and bit it and rubbed it, and said hewould manage so the hair-ball would think it was good. Hesaid he would split open a raw Irish potato and stick thequarter in between and keep it there all night, and nextmorning you couldnt see no brass, and it wouldnt feelgreasy no more, and so anybody in town would take it in aminute, let alone a hair-ball. Well, I knowed a potato woulddo that before, but I had forgot it.

    Jim put the quarter under the hair-ball, and got downand listened again. This time he said the hairball was allright. He said it would tell my whole fortune if I wanted itto. I says, go on. So the hairball talked to Jim, and Jimtold it to me. He says:

    Yo ole father doan know yit what hes a-gwyne to do.Sometimes he spec hell go way, en den agin he spec hellstay. De bes way is to res easy en let de ole man take hisown way. Deys two angels hoverin roun bout him. One uvem is white en shiny, en tother one is black. De white onegits him to go right a little while, den de black one sail in enbust it all up. A body cant tell yit which one gwyne to fetchhim at de las. But you is all right. You gwyne to have

    considable trouble in yo life, en considable joy. Sometimesyou gwyne to git hurt, en sometimes you gwyne to git sick;but every time yous gwyne to git well agin. Deys two galsflyin bout you in yo life. One uv ems light en tother oneis dark. One is rich en tother is po. Yous gwyne to marry depo one fust en de rich one by en by. You wants to keep wayfum de water as much as you kin, en dont run no resk, kaseits down in de bills dat yous gwyne to git hung.

    When I lit my candle and went up to my room thatnight there sat pap his own self!

    CHAPTER V.

    I had shut the door to. Then I turned around. and there hewas. I used to be scared of him all the time, he tanned meso much. I reckoned I was scared now, too; but in a minuteI see I was mistaken that is, after the first jolt, as youmay say, when my breath sort of hitched, he being so unex-pected; but right away after I see I warnt scared of himworth bothring about.

    He was most fifty, and he looked it. His hair was long andtangled and greasy, and hung down, and you could see hiseyes shining through like he was behind vines. It was allblack, no gray; so was his long, mixed-up whiskers. Therewarnt no color in his face, where his face showed; it waswhite; not like another mans white, but a white to makea body sick, a white to make a bodys flesh crawl a tree-

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  • toad white, a fish-belly white. As for his clothes justrags, that was all. He had one ankle resting on totherknee; the boot on that foot was busted, and two of histoes stuck through, and he worked them now and then.His hat was laying on the floor an old black slouch withthe top caved in, like a lid.

    I stood a-looking at him; he set there a-looking at me,with his chair tilted back a little. I set the candle down. Inoticed the window was up; so he had clumb in by the shed.He kept a-looking me all over. By and by he says:

    Starchy clothes very. You think youre a good deal of abig-bug, dont you?

    Maybe I am, maybe I aint, I says.Dont you give me none o your lip, says he. Youve put

    on considerable many frills since I been away. Ill take youdown a peg before I get done with you. Youre educated,too, they say can read and write. You think youre betternyour father, now, dont you, because he cant? Ill take it outof you. Who told you you might meddle with such hifalutnfoolishness, hey? who told you you could?

    The widow. She told me.The widow, hey? and who told the widow she could

    put in her shovel about a thing that aint none of her busi-ness?

    Nobody never told her.Well, Ill learn her how to meddle. And looky here you

    drop that school, you hear? Ill learn people to bring up a

    boy to put on airs over his own father and let on to bebettern what he is. You lemme catch you fooling aroundthat school again, you hear? Your mother couldnt read, andshe couldnt write, nuther, before she died. None of thefamily couldnt before they died. I cant; and here youre a-swelling yourself up like this. I aint the man to stand it you hear? Say, lemme hear you read.

    I took up a book and begun something about General Wash-ington and the wars. When Id read about a half a minute,he fetched the book a whack with his hand and knocked itacross the house. He says:

    Its so. You can do it. I had my doubts when you told me.Now looky here; you stop that putting on frills. I wont haveit. Ill lay for you, my smarty; and if I catch you about thatschool Ill tan you good. First you know youll get religion,too. I never see such a son.

    He took up a little blue and yaller picture of some cowsand a boy, and says:

    Whats this?Its something they give me for learning my lessons good.He tore it up, and says:Ill give you something better Ill give you a cowhide.He set there a-mumbling and a-growling a minute, and

    then he says:Aint you a sweet-scented dandy, though? A bed; and

    bedclothes; and a lookn-glass; and a piece of carpet on thefloor and your own father got to sleep with the hogs in

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  • the tanyard. I never see such a son. I bet Ill take some othese frills out o you before Im done with you. Why, thereaint no end to your airs they say youre rich. Hey? hows that?

    They lie thats how.Looky here mind how you talk to me; Im a-standing

    about all I can stand now so dont gimme no sass. Ivebeen in town two days, and I haint heard nothing but aboutyou bein rich. I heard about it away down the river, too.Thats why I come. You git me that money to-morrow Iwant it.

    I haint got no money.Its a lie. Judge Thatchers got it. You git it. I want it.I haint got no money, I tell you. You ask Judge Thatcher;

    hell tell you the same.All right. Ill ask him; and Ill make him pungle, too, or

    Ill know the reason why. Say, how much you got in yourpocket? I want it.

    I haint got only a dollar, and I want that to It dont make no difference what you want it for you

    just shell it out.He took it and bit it to see if it was good, and then he said

    he was going down town to get some whisky; said he hadnthad a drink all day. When he had got out on the shed he puthis head in again, and cussed me for putting on frills andtrying to be better than him; and when I reckoned he wasgone he come back and put his head in again, and told me

    to mind about that school, because he was going to lay forme and lick me if I didnt drop that.

    Next day he was drunk, and he went to Judge Thatchersand bullyragged him, and tried to make him give up themoney; but he couldnt, and then he swore hed make thelaw force him.

    The judge and the widow went to law to get the court totake me away from him and let one of them be my guardian;but it was a new judge that had just come, and he didntknow the old man; so he said courts mustnt interfere andseparate families if they could help it; said hed druther nottake a child away from its father. So Judge Thatcher and thewidow had to quit on the business.

    That pleased the old man till he couldnt rest. He said hedcowhide me till I was black and blue if I didnt raise somemoney for him. I borrowed three dollars from Judge Thatcher,and pap took it and got drunk, and went a-blowing aroundand cussing and whooping and carrying on; and he kept itup all over town, with a tin pan, till most midnight; thenthey jailed him, and next day they had him before court,and jailed him again for a week. But he said he was satisfied;said he was boss of his son, and hed make it warm for him.

    When he got out the new judge said he was a-going tomake a man of him. So he took him to his own house, anddressed him up clean and nice, and had him to breakfastand dinner and supper with the family, and was just old pieto him, so to speak. And after supper he talked to him

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  • about temperance and such things till the old man cried,and said hed been a fool, and fooled away his life; but nowhe was a-going to turn over a new leaf and be a man no-body wouldnt be ashamed of, and he hoped the judgewould help him and not look down on him. The judge saidhe could hug him for them words; so he cried, and his wifeshe cried again; pap said hed been a man that had alwaysbeen misunderstood before, and the judge said he believedit. The old man said that what a man wanted that was downwas sympathy, and the judge said it was so; so they criedagain. And when it was bedtime the old man rose up andheld out his hand, and says:

    Look at it, gentlemen and ladies all; take a-hold of it;shake it. Theres a hand that was the hand of a hog; but itaint so no more; its the hand of a man thats started in ona new life, andll die before hell go back. You mark themwords dont forget I said them. Its a clean hand now;shake it dont be afeard.

    So they shook it, one after the other, all around, and cried.The judges wife she kissed it. Then the old man he signeda pledge made his mark. The judge said it was the holiesttime on record, or something like that. Then they tuckedthe old man into a beautiful room, which was the spareroom, and in the night some time he got powerful thirstyand clumb out on to the porch-roof and slid down a stan-chion and traded his new coat for a jug of forty-rod, andclumb back again and had a good old time; and towards

    daylight he crawled out again, drunk as a fiddler, and rolledoff the porch and broke his left arm in two places, and wasmost froze to death when somebody found him after sun-up. And when they come to look at that spare room theyhad to take soundings before they could navigate it.

    The judge he felt kind of sore. He said he reckoned a bodycould reform the old man with a shotgun, maybe, but hedidnt know no other way.

    CHAPTER VI.

    Well, pretty soon the old man was up and around again,and then he went for Judge Thatcher in the courts to makehim give up that money, and he went for me, too, for notstopping school. He catched me a couple of times andthrashed me, but I went to school just the same, and dodgedhim or outrun him most of the time. I didnt want to go toschool much before, but I reckoned Id go now to spite Pap.That law trial was a slow business appeared like theywarnt ever going to get started on it; so every now and thenId borrow two or three dollars off of the judge for him, tokeep from getting a cowhiding. Every time he got money hegot drunk; and every time he got drunk he raised Cain aroundtown; and every time he raised Cain he got jailed. He wasjust suited this kind of thing was right in his line.

    He got to hanging around the widows too much and soshe told him at last that if he didnt quit using around

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  • there she would make trouble for him. Well, wasnt he mad?He said he would show who was Huck Finns boss. So hewatched out for me one day in the spring, and catched me,and took me up the river about three mile in a skiff, andcrossed over to the Illinois shore where it was woody andthere warnt no houses but an old log hut in a place wherethe timber was so thick you couldnt find it if you didntknow where it was.

    He kept me with him all the time, and I never got a chanceto run off. We lived in that old cabin, and he always lockedthe door and put the key under his head nights. He had agun which he had stole, I reckon, and we fished and hunted,and that was what we lived on. Every little while he lockedme in and went down to the store, three miles, to the ferry,and traded fish and game for whisky, and fetched it homeand got drunk and had a good time, and licked me. Thewidow she found out where I was by and by, and she sent aman over to try to get hold of me; but Pap drove him offwith the gun, and it warnt long after that till I was used tobeing where I was, and liked it all but the cowhide part.

    It was kind of lazy and jolly, laying off comfortable allday, smoking and fishing, and no books nor study. Twomonths or more run along, and my clothes got to be all ragsand dirt, and I didnt see how Id ever got to like it so wellat the widows, where you had to wash, and eat on a plate,and comb up, and go to bed and get up regular, and beforever bothering over a book, and have old Miss Watson

    pecking at you all the time. I didnt want to go back nomore. I had stopped cussing, because the widow didnt likeit; but now I took to it again because pap hadnt no objec-tions. It was pretty good times up in the woods there, takeit all around.

    But by and by pap got too handy with his hickry, and Icouldnt stand it. I was all over welts. He got to going awayso much, too, and locking me in. Once he locked me in andwas gone three days. It was dreadful lonesome. I judged hehad got drowned, and I wasnt ever going to get out anymore. I was scared. I made up my mind I would fix up someway to leave there. I had tried to get out of that cabin manya time, but I couldnt find no way. There warnt a window toit big enough for a dog to get through. I couldnt get up thechimbly; it was too narrow. The door was thick, solid oakslabs. Pap was pretty careful not to leave a knife or anythingin the cabin when he was away; I reckon I had hunted theplace over as much as a hundred times; well, I was most allthe time at it, because it was about the only way to put inthe time. But this time I found something at last; I found anold rusty wood-saw without any handle; it was laid in be-tween a rafter and the clapboards of the roof. I greased it upand went to work. There was an old horse-blanket nailedagainst the logs at the far end of the cabin behind the table,to keep the wind from blowing through the chinks and put-ting the candle out. I got under the table and raised theblanket, and went to work to saw a section of the big bot-

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  • tom log out big enough to let me through. Well, it wasa good long job, but I was getting towards the end of itwhen I heard Paps gun in the woods. I got rid of the signsof my work, and dropped the blanket and hid my saw, andpretty soon pap come in.

    Pap warnt in a good humor so he was his natural self.He said he was down town, and everything was going wrong.His lawyer said he reckoned he would win his lawsuit andget the money if they ever got started on the trial; but thenthere was ways to put it off a long time, and Judge Thatcherknowed how to do it And he said people allowed thered beanother trial to get me away from him and give me to thewidow for my guardian, and they guessed it would win thistime. This shook me up considerable, because I didnt wantto go back to the widows any more and be so cramped upand sivilized, as they called it. Then the old man got tocussing, and cussed everything and everybody he couldthink of, and then cussed them all over again to make surehe hadnt skipped any, and after that he polished off with akind of a general cuss all round, including a considerableparcel of people which he didnt know the names of, and socalled them whats-his-name when he got to them, and wentright along with his cussing.

    He said he would like to see the widow get me. He said hewould watch out, and if they tried to come any such gameon him he knowed of a place six or seven mile off to stow mein, where they might hunt till they dropped and they couldnt

    find me. That made me pretty uneasy again, but only for aminute; I reckoned I wouldnt stay on hand till he got thatchance.

    The old man made me go to the skiff and fetch the thingshe had got. There was a fifty-pound sack of corn meal, anda side of bacon, ammunition, and a four-gallon jug of whisky,and an old book and two newspapers for wadding, besidessome tow. I toted up a load, and went back and set down onthe bow of the skiff to rest. I thought it all over, and Ireckoned I would walk off with the gun and some lines, andtake to the woods when I run away. I guessed I wouldntstay in one place, but just tramp right across the country,mostly night times, and hunt and fish to keep alive, and soget so far away that the old man nor the widow couldntever find me any more. I judged I would saw out and leavethat night if pap got drunk enough, and I reckoned he would.I got so full of it I didnt notice how long I was staying tillthe old man hollered and asked me whether I was asleep ordrownded.

    I got the things all up to the cabin, and then it was aboutdark. While I was cooking supper the old man took a swigor two and got sort of warmed up, and went to ripping again.He had been drunk over in town, and laid in the gutter allnight, and he was a sight to look at. A body would a thoughthe was Adam he was just all mud. Whenever his liquorbegun to work he most always went for the govment. Thistime he says:

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  • Call this a govment! why, just look at it and see what itslike. Heres the law a-standing ready to take a mans sonaway from him a mans own son, which he has had all thetrouble and all the anxiety and all the expense of raising.Yes, just as that man has got that son raised at last, andready to go to work and begin to do suthin for him and givehim a rest, the law up and goes for him. And they call thatgovment! That aint all, nuther. The law backs that old JudgeThatcher up and helps him to keep me out o my property.Heres what the law does: The law takes a man worth sixthousand dollars and upards, and jams him into an old trapof a cabin like this, and lets him go round in clothes thataint fitten for a hog. They call that govment! A man cantget his rights in a govment like this. Sometimes Ive a mightynotion to just leave the country for good and all. Yes, and Itold em so; I told old Thatcher so to his face. Lots of emheard me, and can tell what I said. Says I, for two cents Idleave the blamed country and never come a-near it agin.Thems the very words. I says look at my hat if you call ita hat but the lid raises up and the rest of it goes down tillits below my chin, and then it aint rightly a hat at all, butmore like my head was shoved up through a jint o stove-pipe. Look at it, says I such a hat for me to wear oneof the wealthiest men in this town if I could git my rights.

    Oh, yes, this is a wonderful govment, wonderful. Why,looky here. There was a free nigger there from Ohio amulatter, most as white as a white man. He had the whitest

    shirt on you ever see, too, and the shiniest hat; and thereaint a man in that town thats got as fine clothes as whathe had; and he had a gold watch and chain, and a silver-headed cane the awfulest old gray-headed nabob in theState. And what do you think? They said he was a pfessor ina college, and could talk all kinds of languages, and knowedeverything. And that aint the wust. They said he could votewhen he was at home. Well, that let me out. Thinks I, whatis the country a-coming to? It was lection day, and I wasjust about to go and vote myself if I warnt too drunk to getthere; but when they told me there was a State in this coun-try where theyd let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says Illnever vote agin. Thems the very words I said; they all heardme; and the country may rot for all me Ill never voteagin as long as I live. And to see the cool way of that nigger why, he wouldnt a give me the road if I hadnt shovedhim out o the way. I says to the people, why aint thisnigger put up at auction and sold? thats what I want toknow. And what do you reckon they said? Why, they said hecouldnt be sold till hed been in the State six months, andhe hadnt been there that long yet. There, now thats aspecimen. They call that a govment that cant sell a freenigger till hes been in the State six months. Heres a govmentthat calls itself a govment, and lets on to be a govment, andthinks it is a govment, and yets got to set stock-still for sixwhole months before it can take a hold of a prowling, thiev-ing, infernal, white-shirted free nigger, and

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  • Pap was agoing on so he never noticed where his old lim-ber legs was taking him to, so he went head over heels overthe tub of salt pork and barked both shins, and the rest ofhis speech was all the hottest kind of language mostlyhove at the nigger and the govment, though he give the tubsome, too, all along, here and there. He hopped around thecabin considerable, first on one leg and then on the other,holding first one shin and then the other one, and at last helet out with his left foot all of a sudden and fetched the tuba rattling kick. But it warnt good judgment, because thatwas the boot that had a couple of his toes leaking out of thefront end of it; so now he raised a howl that fairly made abodys hair raise, and down he went in the dirt, and rolledthere, and held his toes; and the cussing he done then laidover anything he had ever done previous. He said so his ownself afterwards. He had heard old Sowberry Hagan in hisbest days, and he said it laid over him, too; but I reckonthat was sort of piling it on, maybe.

    After supper pap took the jug, and said he had enoughwhisky there for two drunks and one delirium tremens. Thatwas always his word. I judged he would be blind drunk inabout an hour, and then I would steal the key, or saw myselfout, one or tother. He drank and drank, and tumbled downon his blankets by and by; but luck didnt run my way. Hedidnt go sound asleep, but was uneasy. He groaned andmoaned and thrashed around this way and that for a longtime. At last I got so sleepy I couldnt keep my eyes open all

    I could do, and so before I knowed what I was about I wassound asleep, and the candle burning.

    I dont know how long I was asleep, but all of a suddenthere was an awful scream and I was up. There was paplooking wild, and skipping around every which way and yell-ing about snakes. He said they was crawling up his legs; andthen he would give a jump and scream, and say one had bithim on the cheek but I couldnt see no snakes. He startedand run round and round the cabin, hollering Take him off!take him off! hes biting me on the neck! I never see a manlook so wild in the eyes. Pretty soon he was all fagged out,and fell down panting; then he rolled over and over wonder-ful fast, kicking things every which way, and striking andgrabbing at the air with his hands, and screaming and say-ing there was devils a-hold of him. He wore out by and by,and laid still a while, moaning. Then he laid stiller, and didntmake a sound. I could hear the owls and the wolves awayoff in the woods, and it seemed terrible still. He was layingover by the corner. By and by he raised up part way andlistened, with his head to one side. He says, very low:

    Tramp tramp tramp; thats the dead; tramp tramp tramp; theyre coming after me; but I wont go. Oh, theyrehere! dont touch me dont! hands off theyre cold; letgo. Oh, let a poor evil alone!

    Then he went down on all fours and crawled off, beggingthem to let him alone, and he rolled himself up in his blan-ket and wallowed in under the old pine table, still a-beg-

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  • ging; and then he went to crying. I could hear him throughthe blanket.

    By and by he rolled out and jumped up on his feet lookingwild, and he see me and went for me. He chased me roundand round the place with a clasp-knife, calling me the Angelof Death, and saying he would kill me, and then I couldntcome for him no more. I begged, and told him I was onlyHuck; but he laughed such a screechy laugh, and roared andcussed, and kept on chasing me up. Once when I turnedshort and dodged under his arm he made a grab and got meby the jacket between my shoulders, and I thought I wasgone; but I slid out of the jacket quick as lightning, andsaved myself. Pretty soon he was all tired out, and droppeddown with his back against the door, and said he would resta minute and then kill me. He put his knife under him, andsaid he would sleep and get strong, and then he would seewho was who.

    So he dozed off pretty soon. By and by I got the old split-bottom chair and clumb up as easy as I could, not to makeany noise, and got down the gun. I slipped the ramrod downit to make sure it was loaded, then I laid it across the turnipbarrel, pointing towards pap, and set down behind it to waitfor him to stir. And how slow and still the time did dragalong.

    CHAPTER VII.

    Git up! What you bout?I opened my eyes and looked around, trying to make out

    where I was. It was after sun-up, and I had been soundasleep. Pap was standing over me looking sourQand sick,too. He says:

    What you doin with this gun?I judged he didnt know nothing about what he had been

    doing, so I says:Somebody tried to get in, so I was laying for him.Why didnt you roust me out?Well, I tried to, but I couldnt; I couldnt budge you.Well, all right. Dont stand there palavering all day, but

    out with you and see if theres a fish on the lines for break-fast. Ill be along in a minute.

    He unlocked the door, and I cleared out up the river-bank.I noticed some pieces of limbs and such things floating down,and a sprinkling of bark; so I knowed the river had begun torise. I reckoned I would have great times now if I was over atthe town. The June rise used to be always luck for me; be-cause as soon as that rise begins here comes cordwood float-ing down, and pieces of log rafts sometimes a dozen logstogether; so all you have to do is to catch them and sellthem to the wood- yards and the sawmill.

    I went along up the bank with one eye out for pap andtother one out for what the rise might fetch along. Well,

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  • all at once here comes a canoe; just a beauty, too, aboutthirteen or fourteen foot long, riding high like a duck. Ishot head-first off of the bank like a frog, clothes and allon, and struck out for the canoe. I just expected thered besomebody laying down in it, because people often donethat to fool folks, and when a chap had pulled a skiff outmost to it theyd raise up and laugh at him. But it warntso this time. It was a drift-canoe sure enough, and I clumbin and paddled her ashore. Thinks I, the old man will beglad when he sees this shes worth ten dollars. But whenI got to shore Pap wasnt in sight yet, and as I was runningher into a little creek like a gully, all hung over with vinesand willows, I struck another idea: I judged Id hide hergood, and then, stead of taking to the woods when I runoff, Id go down the river about fifty mile and camp in oneplace for good, and not have such a rough time trampingon foot.

    It was pretty close to the shanty, and I thought I heardthe old man coming all the time; but I got her hid; andthen I out and looked around a bunch of willows, and therewas the old man down the path a piece just drawing a beadon a bird with his gun. So he hadnt seen anything.

    When he got along I was hard at it taking up a trot line.He abused me a little for being so slow; but I told him I fellin the river, and that was what made me so long. I knowedhe would see I was wet, and then he would be asking ques-tions. We got five catfish off the lines and went home.

    While we laid off after breakfast to sleep up, both of usbeing about wore out, I got to thinking that if I could fix upsome way to keep pap and the widow from trying to followme, it would be a certainer thing than trusting to luck toget far enough off before they missed me; you see, all kindsof things might happen. Well, I didnt see no way for a while,but by and by Pap raised up a minute to drink anotherbarrel of water, and he says:

    Another time a man comes a-prowling round here youroust me out, you hear? That man warnt here for no good.Id a shot him. Next time you roust me out, you hear?

    Then he dropped down and went to sleep again; but whathe had been saying give me the very idea I wanted. I says tomyself, I can fix it now so nobody wont think of followingme.

    About twelve oclock we turned out and went along up thebank. The river was coming up pretty fast, and lots of drift-wood going by on the rise. By and by along comes part of alog raft nine logs fast together. We went out with theskiff and towed it ashore. Then we had dinner. Anybody butPap would a waited and seen the day through, so as tocatch more stuff; but that warnt paps style. Nine logs wasenough for one time; he must shove right over to town andsell. So he locked me in and took the skiff, and started offtowing the raft about half- past three. I judged he wouldntcome back that night. I waited till I reckoned he had got agood start; then I out with my saw, and went to work on

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  • that log again. Before he was tother side of the river I wasout of the hole; him and his raft was just a speck on thewater away off yonder.

    I took the sack of corn meal and took it to where thecanoe was hid, and shoved the vines and branches apartand put it in; then I done the same with the side of bacon;then the whisky-jug. I took all the coffee and sugar therewas, and all the ammunition; I took the wadding; I took thebucket and gourd; I took a dipper and a tin cup, and my oldsaw and two blankets, and the skillet and the coffee-pot. Itook fish-lines and matches and other things everythingthat was worth a cent. I cleaned out the place. I wanted anaxe, but there wasnt any, only the one out at the woodpile,and I knowed why I was going to leave that. I fetched outthe gun, and now I was done.

    I had wore the ground a good deal crawling out of the holeand dragging out so many things. So I fixed that as good asI could from the outside by scattering dust on the place,which covered up the smoothness and the sawdust. Then Ifixed the piece of log back into its place, and put two rocksunder it and one against it to hold it there, for it was bentup at that place and didnt quite touch ground. If you stoodfour or five foot away and didnt know it was sawed, youwouldnt never notice it; and besides, this was the back ofthe cabin, and it warnt likely anybody would go foolingaround there.

    It was all grass clear to the canoe, so I hadnt left a track.

    I followed around to see. I stood on the bank and lookedout over the river. All safe. So I took the gun and went up apiece into the woods, and was hunting around for somebirds when I see a wild pig; hogs soon went wild in thembottoms after they had got away from the prairie farms. Ishot this fellow and took him into camp.

    I took the axe and smashed in the door. I beat it andhacked it considerable a-doing it. I fetched the pig in, andtook him back nearly to the table and hacked into his throatwith the axe, and laid him down on the ground to bleed; Isay ground because it was ground hard packed, and noboards. Well, next I took an old sack and put a lot of bigrocks in it all I could drag and I started it from thepig, and dragged it to the door and through the woods downto the river and dumped it in, and down it sunk, out ofsight. You could easy see that something had been draggedover the ground. I did wish Tom Sawyer was there; I knowedhe would take an interest in this kind of business, and throwin the fancy touches. Nobody could spread himself like TomSawyer in such a thing as that.

    Well, last I pulled out some of my hair, and blooded theaxe good, and stuck it on the back side, and slung the axein the corner. Then I took up the pig and held him to mybreast with my jacket (so he couldnt drip) till I got a goodpiece below the house and then dumped him into the river.Now I thought of something else. So I went and got the bagof meal and my old saw out of the canoe, and fetched them

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  • to the house. I took the bag to where it used to stand, andripped a hole in the bottom of it with the saw, for therewarnt no knives and forks on the place Pap done every-thing with his clasp-knife about the cooking. Then I carriedthe sack about a hundred yards across the grass andthrough the willows east of the house, to a shallow lake thatwas five mile wide and full of rushes and ducks too, youmight say, in the season. There was a slough or a creekleading out of it on the other side that went miles away, Idont know where, but it didnt go to the river. The mealsifted out and made a little track all the way to the lake. Idropped Paps whetstone there too, so as to look like it hadbeen done by accident. Then I tied up the rip in the mealsack with a string, so it wouldnt leak no more, and took itand my saw to the canoe again.

    It was about dark now; so I dropped the canoe down theriver under some willows that hung over the bank, and waitedfor the moon to rise. I made fast to a willow; then I took abite to eat, and by and by laid down in the canoe to smokea pipe and lay out a plan. I says to myself, theyll follow thetrack of that sack-full of rocks to the shore and then dragthe river for me. And theyll follow that meal track to thelake and go browsing down the creek that leads out of it tofind the robbers that killed me and took the things. Theywont ever hunt the river for anything but my dead carcass.Theyll soon get tired of that, and wont bother no moreabout me. All right; I can stop anywhere I want to. Jacksons

    Island is good enough for me; I know that island prettywell, and nobody ever comes there. And then I can paddleover to town nights, and slink around and pick up things Iwant. Jacksons Islands the place.

    I was pretty tired, and the first thing I knowed I was asleep.When I woke up I didnt know where I was for a minute. I setup and looked around, a little scared. Then I remembered.The river looked miles and miles across. The moon was sobright I could a counted the drift logs that went a-slippingalong, black and still, hundreds of yards out from shore.Everything was dead quiet, and it looked late, and smeltlate. You know what I mean I dont know the words toput it in.

    I took a good gap and a stretch, and was just going tounhitch and start when I heard a sound away over thewater. I listened. Pretty soon I made it out. It was that dullkind of a regular sound that comes from oars working inrowlocks when its a still night. I peeped out through thewillow branches, and there it was a skiff, away across thewater. I couldnt tell how many was in it. It kept a-coming,and when it was abreast of me I see there warnt but oneman in it. Thinks I, maybe its pap, though I warnt expect-ing him. He dropped below me with the current, and by andby he came a-swinging up shore in the easy water, and hewent by so close I could a reached out the gun and touchedhim. Well, it was Pap, sure enough and sober, too, by theway he laid his oars.

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  • I didnt lose no time. The next minute I was a-spinningdown stream soft but quick in the shade of the bank. I madetwo mile and a half, and then struck out a quarter of a mileor more towards the middle of the river, because pretty soonI would be passing the ferry landing, and people might seeme and hail me. I got out amongst the driftwood, and thenlaid down in the bottom of the canoe and let her float. I laidthere, and had a good rest and a smoke out of my pipe, look-ing away into the sky; not a cloud in it. The sky looks everso deep when you lay down on your back in the moonshine;I never knowed it before. And how far a body can hear on thewater such nights! I heard people talking at the ferry land-ing. I heard what they said, too every word of it. One mansaid it was getting towards the long days and the short nightsnow. Tother one said this warnt one of the short ones, hereckoned and then they laughed, and he said it over again,and they laughed again; then they waked up another fellowand told him, and laughed, but he didnt laugh; he rippedout something brisk, and said let him alone. The first fellowsaid he lowed to tell it to his old woman she would thinkit was pretty good; but he said that warnt nothing to somethings he had said in his time. I heard one man say it wasnearly three oclock, and he hoped daylight wouldnt waitmore than about a week longer. After that the talk got fur-ther and further away, and I couldnt make out the wordsany more; but I could hear the mumble, and now and then alaugh, too, but it seemed a long ways off.

    I was away below the ferry now. I rose up, and there wasJacksons Island, about two mile and a half down stream,heavy timbered and standing up out of the middle of theriver, big and dark and solid, like a steamboat without anylights. There warnt any signs of the bar at the head itwas all under water now.

    It didnt take me long to get there. I shot past the head ata ripping rate, the current was so swift, and then I got intothe dead water and landed on the side towards the Illinoisshore. I run the canoe into a deep dent in the bank that Iknowed about; I had to part the willow branches to get in;and when I made fast nobody could a seen the canoe fromthe outside.

    I went up and set down on a log at the head of the island,and looked out on the big river and the black driftwood andaway over to the town, three mile away, where there wasthree or four lights twinkling. A monstrous big lumber-raftwas about a mile up stream, coming along down, with alantern in the middle of it. I watched it come creeping down,and when it was most abreast of where I stood I heard a mansay, Stern oars, there! heave her head to stabboard! I heardthat just as plain as if the man was by my side.

    There was a little gray in the sky now; so I stepped intothe woods, and laid down for a nap before breakfast.

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  • CHAPTER VIII.

    The sun was up so high when I waked that I judged it wasafter eight oclock. I laid there in the grass and the coolshade thinking about things, and feeling rested and ruthercomfortable and satisfied. I could see the sun out at one ortwo holes, but mostly it was big trees all about, and gloomyin there amongst them. There was freckled places on theground where the light sifted down through the leaves, andthe freckled places swapped about a little, showing therewas a little breeze up there. A couple of squirrels set on alimb and jabbered at me very friendly.

    I was powerful lazy and comfortable didnt want to getup and cook breakfast. Well, I was dozing off again when Ithinks I hears a deep sound of boom! away up the river. Irouses up, and rests on my elbow and listens; pretty soon Ihears it again. I hopped up, and went and looked out at ahole in the leaves, and I see a bunch of smoke laying on thewater a long ways up about abreast the ferry. And therewas the ferryboat full of people floating along down. I knowedwhat was the matter now. Boom! I see the white smokesquirt out of the ferryboats side. You see, they was firingcannon over the water, trying to make my carcass come tothe top.

    I was pretty hungry, but it warnt going to do for me tostart a fire, because they might see the smoke. So I set thereand watched the cannon-smoke and listened to the boom.

    The river was a mile wide there, and it always looks prettyon a summer morning so I was having a good enoughtime seeing them hunt for my remainders if I only had abite to eat. Well, then I happened to think how they alwaysput quicksilver in loaves of bread and float them off, be-cause they always go right to the drownded carcass and stopthere. So, says I, Ill keep a lookout, and if any of themsfloating around after me Ill give them a show. I changed tothe Illinois edge of the island to see what luck I could have,and I warnt disappointed. A big double loaf come along,and I most got it with a long stick, but my foot slipped andshe floated out further. Of course I was where the currentset in the closest to the shore I knowed enough for that.But by and by along comes another one, and this time Iwon. I took out the plug and shook out the little dab ofquicksilver, and set my teeth in. It was bakers bread what the quality eat; none of your low-down corn-pone.

    I got a good place amongst the leaves, and set there on alog, munching the bread and watching the ferryboat, andvery well satisfied. And then something struck me. I says,now I reckon the widow or the parson or somebody prayedthat this bread would find me, and here it has gone anddone it. So there aint no doubt but there is something inthat thing that is, theres something in it when a bodylike the widow or the parson prays, but it dont work for me,and I reckon it dont work for only just the right kind.

    I lit a pipe and had a good long smoke, and went on watch-

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  • ing. The ferryboat was floating with the current, and I al-lowed Id have a chance to see who was aboard when shecome along, because she would come in close, where thebread did. When shed got pretty well along down towardsme, I put out my pipe and went to where I fished out thebread, and laid down behind a log on the bank in a littleopen place. Where the log forked I could peep through.

    By and by she come along, and she drifted in so close thatthey could a run out a plank and walked ashore. Most every-body was on the boat. Pap, and Judge Thatcher, and BessieThatcher, and Jo Harper, and Tom Sawyer, and his old AuntPolly, and Sid and Mary, and plenty more. Everybody wastalking about the murder, but the captain broke in and says:

    Look sharp, now; the current sets in the closest here, andmaybe hes washed ashore and got tangled amongst the brushat the waters edge. I hope so, anyway.

    I didnt hope so. They all crowded up and leaned over therails, nearly in my face, and kept still, watching with alltheir might. I could see them first-rate, but they couldntsee me. Then the captain sung out:

    Stand away! and the cannon let off such a blast rightbefore me that it made me deef with the noise and prettynear blind with the smoke, and I judged I was gone. If theyda had some bullets in, I reckon theyd a got the corpse theywas after. Well, I see I warnt hurt, thanks to goodness. Theboat floated on and went out of sight around the shoulderof the island. I could hear the booming now and then,

    further and further off, and by and by, after an hour, I didnthear it no more. The island was three mile long. I judgedthey had got to the foot, and was giving it up. But theydidnt yet a while. They turned around the foot of the islandand started up the channel on the Missouri side, under steam,and booming once in a while as they went. I crossed over tothat side and watched them. When they got abreast thehead of the island they quit shooting and dropped over tothe Missouri shore and went home to the town.

    I knowed I was all right now. Nobody else would come a-hunting after me. I got my traps out of the canoe and mademe a nice camp in the thick woods. I made a kind of a tentout of my blankets to put my things under so the rain couldntget at them. I catched a catfish and haggled him open withmy saw, and towards sundown I started my camp fire andhad supper. Then I set out a line to catch some fish forbreakfast.

    When it was dark I set by my camp fire smoking, andfeeling pretty well satisfied; but by and by it got sort oflonesome, and so I went and set on the bank and listened tothe current swashing along, and counted the stars and driftlogs and rafts that come down, and then went to bed; thereaint no better way to put in time when you are lonesome;you cant stay so, you soon get over it.

    And so for three days and nights. No difference just thesame thing. But the next day I went exploring around downthrough the island. I was boss of it; it all belonged to me,

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  • so to say, and I wanted to know all about it; but mainly Iwanted to put in the time. I found plenty strawberries, ripeand prime; and green summer grapes, and green razberries;and the green blackberries was just beginning to show. Theywould all come handy by and by, I judged.

    Well, I went fooling along in the deep woods till I judgedI warnt far from the foot of the island. I had my gun along,but I hadnt shot nothing; it was for protection; thought Iwould kill some game nigh home. About this time I mightynear stepped on a good-sized snake, and it went sliding offthrough the grass and flowers, and I after it, trying to get ashot at it. I clipped along, and all of a sudden I boundedright on to the ashes of a camp fire that was still smoking.

    My heart jumped up amongst my lungs. I never waited forto look further, but uncocked my gun and went sneakingback on my tiptoes as fast as ever I could. Every now andthen I stopped a second amongst the thick leaves and lis-tened, but my breath come so hard I couldnt hear nothingelse. I slunk along another piece further, then listened again;and so on, and so on. If I see a stump, I took it for a man;if I trod on a stick and broke it, it made me feel like a personhad cut one of my breaths in two and I only got half, andthe short half, too.

    When I got to camp I warnt feeling very brash, there warntmuch sand in my craw; but I says, this aint no time to befooling around. So I got all my traps into my canoe again soas to have them out of sight, and I put out the fire and

    scattered the ashes around to look like an old last yearscamp, and then clumb a tree.

    I reckon I was up in the tree two hours; but I didnt seenothing, I didnt hear nothing I only thought I heard andseen as much as a thousand things. Well, I couldnt stay upthere forever; so at last I got down, but I kept in the thickwoods and on the lookout all the time. All I could get to eatwas berries and what was left over from breakfast.

    By the time it was night I was pretty hungry. So when itwas good and dark I slid out from shore before moonriseand paddled over to the Illinois bank about a quarter of amile. I went out in the woods and cooked a supper, and Ihad about made up my mind I would stay there all nightwhen I hear a plunkety-plunk, plunkety-plunk, and says tomyself, horses coming; and next I hear peoples voices. I goteverything into the canoe as quick as I could, and thenwent creeping through the woods to see what I could findout. I hadnt got far when I hear a man say:

    We better camp here if we can find a good place; thehorses is about beat out. Lets look around.

    I didnt wait, but shoved out and paddled away easy. I tiedup in the old place, and reckoned I would sleep in the ca-noe.

    I didnt sleep much. I couldnt, somehow, for thinking.And every time I waked up I thought somebody had me bythe neck. So the sleep didnt do me no good. By and by Isays to myself, I cant live this way; Im a-going to find out

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  • who it is thats here on the island with me; Ill find it out orbust. Well, I felt better right off.

    So I took my paddle and slid out from shore just a step ortwo, and then let the canoe drop along down amongst theshadows. The moon was shining, and outside of the shadowsit made it most as light as day. I poked along well on to anhour, everything still as rocks and sound asleep. Well, bythis time I was most down to the foot of the island. A littleripply, cool breeze begun to blow, and that was as good assaying the night was about done. I give her a turn with thepaddle and brung her nose to shore; then I got my gun andslipped out and into the edge of the woods. I sat down thereon a log, and looked out through the leaves. I see the moongo off watch, and the darkness begin to blanket the river.But in a little while I see a pale streak over the treetops, andknowed the day was coming. So I took my gun and slippedoff towards where I had run across that camp fire, stoppingevery minute or two to listen. But I hadnt no luck some-how; I couldnt seem to find the place. But by and by, sureenough, I catched a glimpse of fire away through the trees.I went for it, cautious and slow. By and by I was close enoughto have a look, and there laid a man on the ground. It mostgive me the fantods. He had a blanket around his head, andhis head was nearly in the fire. I set there behind a clump ofbushes in about six foot of him, and kept my eyes on himsteady. It was getting gray daylight now. Pretty soon hegapped and stretched himself and hove off the blanket,

    and it was Miss Watsons Jim! I bet I was glad to see him. Isays:

    Hello, Jim! and skipped out.He bounced up and stared at me wild. Then he drops down

    on his knees, and puts his hands together and says:Doan hurt me dont! I haint ever done no harm to a

    ghos. I alwuz liked dead people, en done all I could for em.You go en git in de river agin, whah you blongs, en doan donuffn to Ole Jim, at uz awluz yo fren.

    Well, I warnt long making him understand I warnt dead.I was ever so glad to see Jim. I warnt lonesome now. I toldhim I warnt afraid of HIM telling the people where I was. Italked along, but he only set there and looked at me; neversaid nothing. Then I says:

    Its good daylight. Les get breakfast. Make up your campfire good.

    Whats de use er makin up de camp fire to cook strawbriesen sich truck? But you got a gun, haint you? Den we kin gitsumfn better den strawbries.

    Strawberries and such truck, I says. Is that what youlive on?

    I couldn git nuffn else, he says.Why, how long you been on the island, Jim?I come heah de night arter yous killed.What, all that time?Yes indeedy.And aint you had nothing but that kind of rubbage to eat?

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  • No, sah nuffn else.Well, you must be most starved, aint you?I reckn I could eat a hoss. I think I could. How long you

    ben on de islan?Since the night I got killed.No! Wy, what has you lived on? But you got a gun. Oh,

    yes, you got a gun. Dats good. Now you kill sumfn en Illmake up de fire.

    So we went over to where the canoe was, and while hebuilt a fire in a grassy open place amongst the trees, Ifetched meal and bacon and coffee, and coffee-pot and fry-ing-pan, and sugar and tin cups, and the nigger was setback considerable, because he reckoned it was all done withwitchcraft. I catched a good big catfish, too, and Jim cleanedhim with his knife, and fried him.

    When breakfast was ready we lolled on the grass and eat itsmoking hot. Jim laid it in with all his might, for he wasmost about starved. Then when we had got pretty wellstuffed, we laid off and lazied. By and by Jim says:

    But looky here, Huck, who wuz it dat uz killed in datshanty ef it warnt you?

    Then I told him the whole thing, and he said it was smart.He said Tom Sawyer couldnt get up no better plan thanwhat I had. Then I says:

    How do you come to be here, Jim, and howd you get here?He looked pretty uneasy, and didnt say nothing for a

    minute. Then he says:

    Maybe I better not tell.Why, Jim?Well, deys reasons. But you wouldn tell on me ef I uz to

    tell you, would you, Huck?Blamed if I would, Jim.Well, I blieve you, Huck. I I RUN OFF.Jim!But mind, you said you wouldn tell you know you

    said you wouldn tell, Huck.Well, I did. I said I wouldnt, and Ill stick to it. Honest

    Injun, I will. People would call me a lowdown Abolitionistand despise me for keeping mum but that dont make nodifference. I aint a-going to tell, and I aint a-going backthere, anyways. So, now, les know all about it.

    Well, you see, it uz dis way. Ole missus dats MissWatson she pecks on me all de time, en treats me pootyrough, but she awluz said she wouldn sell me down to Or-leans. But I noticed dey wuz a nigger trader roun de placeconsidable lately, en I begin to git oneasy. Well, one night Icreeps to de do pooty late, en de do warnt quite shet, enI hear old missus tell de widder she gwyne to sell me downto Orleans, but she didn want to, but she could git eighthundd dollars for me, en it uz sich a big stack o money shecouldn resis. De widder she try to git her to say she wouldndo it, but I never waited to hear de res. I lit out mightyquick, I tell you.

    I tuck out en shin down de hill, en spec to steal a skift

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  • long de sho somers bove de town, but dey wuz people a-stirring yit, so I hid in de ole tumble-down cooper-shop on debank to wait for everybody to go way. Well, I wuz dah allnight. Dey wuz somebody roun all de time. Long bout six inde mawnin skifts begin to go by, en bout eight er nine everyskift dat went long wuz talkin bout how yo pap come overto de town en say yous killed. Dese las skifts wuz full oladies en genlmen a-goin over for to see de place. Sometimesdeyd pull up at de sho en take a res bfo dey started acrost,so by de talk I got to know all bout de killin. I uz powerfulsorry yous killed, Huck, but I aint no mo now.

    I laid dah under de shavins all day. I uz hungry, but Iwarnt afeard; bekase I knowed ole missus en de widder wuzgoin to start to de camp-meetn right arter breakfas en begone all day, en dey knows I goes off wid de cattle boutdaylight, so dey wouldn spec to see me roun de place, enso dey wouldn miss me tell arter dark in de evenin. Deyuther servants wouldn miss me, kase deyd shin out entake holiday soon as de ole folks uz outn de way.

    Well, when it come dark I tuck out up de river road, enwent bout two mile er more to whah dey warnt no houses.Id made up my mine bout what Is agwyne to do. You see, efI kep on tryin to git away afoot, de dogs ud track me; ef Istole a skift to cross over, deyd miss dat skift, you see, endeyd know bout whah Id lan on de yuther side, en whahto pick up my track. So I says, a raff is what