• Home
  • Mark Twain
  • The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer's Comrade) Page 14

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer's Comrade) Read online

Page 14


  CHAPTER XII

  It must 'a' been close on to one o'clock when we got below the islandat last, and the raft did seem to go mighty slow. If a boat was tocome along we was going to take to the canoe and break for theIllinois shore; and it was well a boat didn't come, for we hadn't everthought to put the gun in the canoe, or a fishing-line, or anything toeat. We was in ruther too much of a sweat to think of so many things.It warn't good judgment to put _everything_ on the raft.

  If the men went to the island I just expect they found the camp-fire Ibuilt, and watched it all night for Jim to come. Anyways, they stayedaway from us, and if my building the fire never fooled them it warn'tno fault of mine. I played it as low down on them as I could.

  When the first streak of day began to show we tied up to a towhead ina big bend on the Illinois side, and hacked off cottonwood brancheswith the hatchet, and covered up the raft with them so she looked likethere had been a cave-in in the bank there. A towhead is a sand-barthat has cottonwoods on it as thick as harrow-teeth.

  We had mountains on the Missouri shore and heavy timber on theIllinois side, and the channel was down the Missouri shore at thatplace, so we warn't afraid of anybody running across us. We laid thereall day, and watched the rafts and steamboats spin down the Missourishore, and up-bound steamboats fight the big river in the middle. Itold Jim all about the time I had jabbering with that woman; and Jimsaid she was a smart one, and if she was to start after us herself shewouldn't set down and watch a camp-fire--no, sir, she'd fetch a dog.Well, then, I said, why couldn't she tell her husband to fetch a dog?Jim said he bet she did think of it by the time the men was ready tostart, and he believed they must 'a' gone up-town to get a dog and sothey lost all that time, or else we wouldn't be here on a towheadsixteen or seventeen mile below the village--no, indeedy, we would bein that same old town again. So I said I didn't care what was thereason they didn't get us as long as they didn't.

  When it was beginning to come on dark we poked our heads out of thecottonwood thicket, and looked up and down and across; nothing insight; so Jim took up some of the top planks of the raft and built asnug wigwam to get under in blazing weather and rainy, and to keep thethings dry. Jim made a floor for the wigwam, and raised it a foot ormore above the level of the raft, so now the blankets and all thetraps was out of reach of steamboat waves. Right in the middle of thewigwam we made a layer of dirt about five or six inches deep with aframe around it for to hold it to its place; this was to build a fireon in sloppy weather or chilly; the wigwam would keep it from beingseen. We made an extra steering-oar, too, because one of the othersmight get broke on a snag or something. We fixed up a short forkedstick to hang the old lantern on, because we must always light thelantern whenever we see a steamboat coming down-stream, to keep fromgetting run over; but we wouldn't have to light it for up-stream boatsunless we see we was in what they call a "crossing"; for the river waspretty high yet, very low banks being still a little under water; soup-bound boats didn't always run the channel, but hunted easy water.

  This second night we run between seven and eight hours, with a currentthat was making over four mile an hour. We catched fish and talked,and we took a swim now and then to keep off sleepiness. It was kind ofsolemn, drifting down the big, still river, laying on our backslooking up at the stars, and we didn't ever feel like talking loud,and it warn't often that we laughed--only a little kind of a lowchuckle. We had mighty good weather as a general thing, and nothingever happened to us at all--that night, nor the next, nor the next.

  Every night we passed towns, some of them away up on black hillsides,nothing but just a shiny bed of lights; not a house could you see. Thefifth night we passed St. Louis, and it was like the whole world litup. In St. Petersburg they used to say there was twenty or thirtythousand people in St. Louis, but I never believed it till I see thatwonderful spread of lights at two o'clock that still night. Therewarn't a sound there; everybody was asleep.

  Every night now I used to slip ashore toward ten o'clock at somelittle village, and buy ten or fifteen cents' worth of meal or baconor other stuff to eat; and sometimes I lifted a chicken that warn'troosting comfortable, and took him along. Pap always said, take achicken when you get a chance, because if you don't want him yourselfyou can easy find somebody that does, and a good deed ain't everforgot. I never see pap when he didn't want the chicken himself, butthat is what he used to say, anyway.

  Mornings before daylight I slipped into corn-fields and borrowed awatermelon, or a mushmelon, or a punkin, or some new corn, or thingsof that kind. Pap always said it warn't no harm to borrow things ifyou was meaning to pay them back some time; but the widow said itwarn't anything but a soft name for stealing, and no decent body woulddo it. Jim said he reckoned the widow was partly right and pap waspartly right; so the best way would be for us to pick out two or threethings from the list and say we wouldn't borrow them any more--then hereckoned it wouldn't be no harm to borrow the others. So we talked itover all one night, drifting along down the river, trying to make upour minds whether to drop the watermelons, or the cantelopes, or themushmelons, or what. But toward daylight we got it all settledsatisfactory, and concluded to drop crabapples and p'simmons. Wewarn't feeling just right before that, but it was all comfortable now.I was glad the way it come out, too, because crabapples ain't evergood, and the p'simmons wouldn't be ripe for two or three months yet.

  We shot a water-fowl now and then that got up too early in the morningor didn't go to bed early enough in the evening. Take it all round, welived pretty high.

  The fifth night below St. Louis we had a big storm after midnight,with a power of thunder and lightning, and the rain poured down in asolid sheet. We stayed in the wigwam and let the raft take care ofitself. When the lightning glared out we could see a big straightriver ahead, and high, rocky bluffs on both sides. By and by says I,"Hel-_lo_, Jim, looky yonder!" It was a steamboat that had killedherself on a rock. We was drifting straight down for her. Thelightning showed her very distinct. She was leaning over, with part ofher upper deck above water, and you could see every little chimbly-guyclean and clear, and a chair by the big bell, with an old slouch hathanging on the back of it, when the flashes come.

  Well, it being away in the night and stormy, and all somysterious-like, I felt just the way any other boy would 'a' felt whenI seen that wreck laying there so mournful and lonesome in the middleof the river. I wanted to get aboard of her and slink around a little,and see what there was there. So I says:

  "Le's land on her, Jim."

  But Jim was dead against it at first. He says:

  "I doan' want to go fool'n' 'long er no wrack. We's doin' blame' well,en we better let blame' well alone, as de good book says. Like as notdey's a watchman on dat wrack."

  "Watchman your grandmother," I says; "there ain't nothing to watch butthe texas and the pilot-house; and do you reckon anybody's going toresk his life for a texas and a pilot-house such a night as this, whenit's likely to break up and wash off down the river any minute?" Jimcouldn't say nothing to that, so he didn't try. "And besides," I says,"we might borrow something worth having out of the captain'sstateroom. Seegars, I bet you--and cost five cents apiece, solid cash.Steamboat captains is always rich, and get sixty dollars a month, and_they_ don't care a cent what a thing costs, you know, long as theywant it. Stick a candle in your pocket; I can't rest, Jim, till wegive her a rummaging. Do you reckon Tom Sawyer would ever go by thisthing? Not for pie, he wouldn't. He'd call it an adventure--that'swhat he'd call it; and he'd land on that wreck if it was his last act.And wouldn't he throw style into it?--wouldn't he spread himself, nornothing? Why, you'd think it was Christopher C'lumbus discoveringKingdom Come. I wish Tom Sawyer _was_ here."

  Jim he grumbled a little, but give in. He said we mustn't talk anymore than we could help, and then talk mighty low. The lightningshowed us the wreck again just in time, and we fetched the stabboardderrick, and made fast there.

  The deck was high out here. We went sneaking down the slope of it tolabboar
d, in the dark, towards the texas, feeling our way slow withour feet, and spreading our hands out to fend off the guys, for it wasso dark we couldn't see no sign of them. Pretty soon we struck theforward end of the skylight, and clumb on to it; and the next stepfetched us in front of the captain's door, which was open, and byJimminy, away down through the texas-hall we see a light! and all inthe same second we seem to hear low voices in yonder!

  Jim whispered and said he was feeling powerful sick, and told me tocome along. I says, all right, and was going to start for the raft;but just then I heard a voice wail out and say:

  "Oh, please don't, boys; I swear I won't ever tell!"

  Another voice said, pretty loud:

  "It's a lie, Jim Turner. You've acted this way before. You always wantmore'n your share of the truck, and you've always got it, too, becauseyou've swore 't if you didn't you'd tell. But this time you've said itjest one time too many. You're the meanest, treacherousest hound inthis country."

  By this time Jim was gone for the raft. I was just a-biling withcuriosity; and I says to myself, Tom Sawyer wouldn't back out now, andso I won't either; I'm a-going to see what's going on here. So Idropped on my hands and knees in the little passage, and crept aft inthe dark till there warn't but one stateroom betwixt me and thecross-hall of the texas. Then in there I see a man stretched on thefloor and tied hand and foot, and two men standing over him, and oneof them had a dim lantern in his hand, and the other one had a pistol.This one kept pointing the pistol at the man's head on the floor, andsaying:

  "I'd _like_ to! And I orter, too--a mean skunk!"

  The man on the floor would shrivel up and say, "Oh, please don't,Bill; I hain't ever goin' to tell."

  And every time he said that the man with the lantern would laugh andsay:

  "'Deed you _ain't!_ You never said no truer thing 'n that, you betyou." And once he said: "Hear him beg! and yit if we hadn't got thebest of him and tied him he'd 'a' killed us both. And what _for_? Jistfor noth'n'. Jist because we stood on our _rights_--that's what for.But I lay you ain't a-goin' to threaten nobody any more, Jim Turner.Put _up_ that pistol, Bill."

  Bill says:

  "I don't want to, Jake Packard. I'm for killin' him--and didn't hekill old Hatfield jist the same way--and don't he deserve it?"

  "But I don't _want_ him killed, and I've got my reasons for it."

  "Bless yo' heart for them words, Jake Packard! I'll never forgit youlong's I live!" says the man on the floor, sort of blubbering.

  Packard didn't take no notice of that, but hung up his lantern on anail and started toward where I was, there in the dark, and motionedBill to come. I crawfished as fast as I could about two yards, but theboat slanted so that I couldn't make very good time; so to keep fromgetting run over and catched I crawled into a stateroom on the upperside. The man came a-pawing along in the dark, and when Packard got tomy stateroom, he says:

  "Here--come in here."

  And in he come, and Bill after him. But before they got in I was up inthe upper berth, cornered, and sorry I come. Then they stood there,with their hands on the ledge of the berth, and talked. I couldn't seethem, but I could tell where they was by the whisky they'd beenhaving. I was glad I didn't drink whisky; but it wouldn't made muchdifference anyway, because most of the time they couldn't 'a' treed mebecause I didn't breathe. I was too scared. And, besides, a body_couldn't_ breathe and hear such talk. They talked low and earnest.Bill wanted to kill Turner. He says:

  "He's said he'll tell, and he will. If we was to give both our sharesto him _now_ it wouldn't make no difference after the row and the waywe've served him. Shore's you're born, he'll turn state's evidence;now you hear _me._ I'm for putting him out of his troubles."

  "So'm I," says Packard, very quiet.

  "Blame it, I'd sorter begun to think you wasn't. Well, then, that'sall right. Le's go and do it."

  "Hold on a minute; I hain't had my say yit. You listen to me.Shooting's good, but there's quieter ways if the things _got_ to bedone. But what _I_ say is this: it ain't good sense to go court'n'around after a halter if you can git at what you're up to in some waythat's jist as good and at the same time don't bring you into noresks. Ain't that so?"

  "You bet it is. But how you goin' to manage it this time?"

  "Well, my idea is this: we'll rustle around and gather up whateverpickin's we've overlooked in the staterooms, and shove for shore andhide the truck. Then we'll wait. Now I say it ain't a-goin' to bemore'n two hours befo' this wrack breaks up and washes off down theriver. See? He'll be drownded, and won't have nobody to blame for itbut his own self. I reckon that's a considerable sight better 'nkillin' of him. I'm unfavorable to killin' a man as long as you cangit aroun' it; it ain't good sense, it ain't good morals. Ain't Iright?"

  "Yes, I reck'n you are. But s'pose she _don't_ break up and wash off?"

  "Well, we can wait the two hours anyway and see, can't we?"

  "All right, then; come along."

  So they started, and I lit out, all in a cold sweat, and scrambledforward. It was dark as pitch there; but I said, in a kind of a coarsewhisper, "Jim!" and he answered up, right at my elbow, with a sort ofa moan, and I says:

  "Quick, Jim, it ain't no time for fooling around and moaning; there'sa gang of murderers in yonder, and if we don't hunt up their boat andset her drifting down the river so these fellows can't get away fromthe wreck there's one of 'em going to be in a bad fix. But if we findtheir boat we can put _all_ of 'em in a bad fix--for the sheriff 'llget 'em. Quick--hurry! I'll hunt the labboard side, you hunt thestabboard. You start at the raft, and--"

  "Oh, my lordy, lordy! _Raf'?_ Dey ain' no raf' no mo'; she done brokeloose en gone!--en here we is!"

 

    A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court Read onlineA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's CourtAdventures of Huckleberry Finn Read onlineAdventures of Huckleberry FinnThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Part 1. Read onlineThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Part 1.The Prince and the Pauper Read onlineThe Prince and the PauperThe American Claimant Read onlineThe American ClaimantEve's Diary, Complete Read onlineEve's Diary, CompleteExtracts from Adam's Diary, translated from the original ms. Read onlineExtracts from Adam's Diary, translated from the original ms.A Tramp Abroad Read onlineA Tramp AbroadThe Best Short Works of Mark Twain Read onlineThe Best Short Works of Mark TwainHumorous Hits and How to Hold an Audience Read onlineHumorous Hits and How to Hold an AudienceThe Speculative Fiction of Mark Twain Read onlineThe Speculative Fiction of Mark TwainThe Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut Read onlineThe Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in ConnecticutAlonzo Fitz, and Other Stories Read onlineAlonzo Fitz, and Other StoriesThe $30,000 Bequest, and Other Stories Read onlineThe $30,000 Bequest, and Other StoriesPudd'nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins Read onlinePudd'nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary TwinsThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the Undead Read onlineThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and the UndeadSketches New and Old Read onlineSketches New and OldThe Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg Read onlineThe Man That Corrupted HadleyburgA Tramp Abroad — Volume 06 Read onlineA Tramp Abroad — Volume 06A Tramp Abroad — Volume 02 Read onlineA Tramp Abroad — Volume 02The Prince and the Pauper, Part 1. Read onlineThe Prince and the Pauper, Part 1.Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 16 to 20 Read onlineAdventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 16 to 20The Prince and the Pauper, Part 9. Read onlineThe Prince and the Pauper, Part 9.Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 21 to 25 Read onlineAdventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 21 to 25Tom Sawyer, Detective Read onlineTom Sawyer, DetectiveA Tramp Abroad (Penguin ed.) Read onlineA Tramp Abroad (Penguin ed.)Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 36 to the Last Read onlineAdventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 36 to the LastThe Mysterious Stranger, and Other Stories Read onlineThe Mysterious Stranger, and Other StoriesA Tramp Abroad — Volume 03 Read onlineA Tramp Abroad — Volume 03The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Part 3. Read onlineThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Part 3.Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 06 to 10 Read onlineAdventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 06 to 10The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer's Comrade) Read onlineThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Tom Sawyer's Comrade)Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 31 to 35 Read onlineAdventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 31 to 35The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, and Other Stories Read onlineThe Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg, and Other StoriesA Tramp Abroad — Volume 07 Read onlineA Tramp Abroad — Volume 07Editorial Wild Oats Read onlineEditorial Wild OatsAdventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 26 to 30 Read onlineAdventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 26 to 301601: Conversation as it was by the Social Fireside in the Time of the Tudors Read online1601: Conversation as it was by the Social Fireside in the Time of the TudorsA Tramp Abroad — Volume 05 Read onlineA Tramp Abroad — Volume 05Sketches New and Old, Part 1. Read onlineSketches New and Old, Part 1.The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Part 2. Read onlineThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Part 2.A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 8. Read onlineA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 8.A Tramp Abroad — Volume 01 Read onlineA Tramp Abroad — Volume 01The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Part 5. Read onlineThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Part 5.Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 01 to 05 Read onlineAdventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 01 to 05A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 1. Read onlineA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 1.The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Part 4. Read onlineThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Part 4.A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 2. Read onlineA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 2.The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Part 7. Read onlineThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Part 7.A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3. Read onlineA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 3.Sketches New and Old, Part 4. Read onlineSketches New and Old, Part 4.Sketches New and Old, Part 3. Read onlineSketches New and Old, Part 3.A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 7. Read onlineA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 7.A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 5. Read onlineA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 5.A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 6. Read onlineA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 6.A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 4. Read onlineA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 4.Sketches New and Old, Part 2. Read onlineSketches New and Old, Part 2.Sketches New and Old, Part 6. Read onlineSketches New and Old, Part 6.Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 11 to 15 Read onlineAdventures of Huckleberry Finn, Chapters 11 to 15Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc Read onlinePersonal Recollections of Joan of ArcSketches New and Old, Part 5. Read onlineSketches New and Old, Part 5.Eve's Diary, Part 3 Read onlineEve's Diary, Part 3Sketches New and Old, Part 7. Read onlineSketches New and Old, Part 7.Mark Twain on Religion: What Is Man, the War Prayer, Thou Shalt Not Kill, the Fly, Letters From the Earth Read onlineMark Twain on Religion: What Is Man, the War Prayer, Thou Shalt Not Kill, the Fly, Letters From the EarthTales, Speeches, Essays, and Sketches Read onlineTales, Speeches, Essays, and SketchesA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 9. Read onlineA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Part 9.Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands (version 1) Read onlineOur Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands (version 1)1601 Read online1601Letters from the Earth Read onlineLetters from the EarthCurious Republic Of Gondour, And Other Curious Whimsical Sketches Read onlineCurious Republic Of Gondour, And Other Curious Whimsical SketchesThe Mysterious Stranger Read onlineThe Mysterious StrangerLife on the Mississippi Read onlineLife on the MississippiRoughing It Read onlineRoughing ItAlonzo Fitz and Other Stories Read onlineAlonzo Fitz and Other StoriesThe 30,000 Dollar Bequest and Other Stories Read onlineThe 30,000 Dollar Bequest and Other StoriesThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn taots-2 Read onlineThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn taots-2A Double-Barreled Detective Story Read onlineA Double-Barreled Detective Storyadam's diary.txt Read onlineadam's diary.txtA Horse's Tale Read onlineA Horse's TaleAutobiography Of Mark Twain, Volume 1 Read onlineAutobiography Of Mark Twain, Volume 1The Comedy of Those Extraordinary Twins Read onlineThe Comedy of Those Extraordinary TwinsFollowing the Equator Read onlineFollowing the EquatorGoldsmith's Friend Abroad Again Read onlineGoldsmith's Friend Abroad AgainNo. 44, The Mysterious Stranger Read onlineNo. 44, The Mysterious StrangerThe Stolen White Elephant Read onlineThe Stolen White ElephantThe $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories Read onlineThe $30,000 Bequest and Other StoriesThe Curious Republic of Gondour, and Other Whimsical Sketches Read onlineThe Curious Republic of Gondour, and Other Whimsical SketchesPrince and the Pauper (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Read onlinePrince and the Pauper (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)The Portable Mark Twain Read onlineThe Portable Mark TwainConnecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) Read onlineConnecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (Barnes & Noble Classics Series)The Adventures of Tom Sawyer taots-1 Read onlineThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer taots-1A Double Barrelled Detective Story Read onlineA Double Barrelled Detective StoryEve's Diary Read onlineEve's DiaryA Dog's Tale Read onlineA Dog's TaleThe Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts (Literature) Read onlineThe Mysterious Stranger Manuscripts (Literature)The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain Read onlineThe Complete Short Stories of Mark TwainWhat Is Man? and Other Essays Read onlineWhat Is Man? and Other EssaysThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Read onlineThe Adventures of Huckleberry FinnAdventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim Read onlineAdventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie JimWho Is Mark Twain? Read onlineWho Is Mark Twain?Christian Science Read onlineChristian ScienceThe Innocents Abroad Read onlineThe Innocents AbroadSome Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion Read onlineSome Rambling Notes of an Idle ExcursionAutobiography of Mark Twain Read onlineAutobiography of Mark TwainThose Extraordinary Twins Read onlineThose Extraordinary TwinsAutobiography of Mark Twain: The Complete and Authoritative Edition, Volume 1 Read onlineAutobiography of Mark Twain: The Complete and Authoritative Edition, Volume 1