http://git-wip-us.apache.org/repos/asf/incubator-ignite/blob/36b439d9/modules/hadoop/src/test/java/org/apache/ignite/hadoop/books/huckleberry-finn.txt ---------------------------------------------------------------------- diff --git a/modules/hadoop/src/test/java/org/apache/ignite/hadoop/books/huckleberry-finn.txt b/modules/hadoop/src/test/java/org/apache/ignite/hadoop/books/huckleberry-finn.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 3af8c6b..0000000 --- a/modules/hadoop/src/test/java/org/apache/ignite/hadoop/books/huckleberry-finn.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,11733 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Complete -by Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net - - -Title: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Complete - -Author: Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) - -Release Date: August 20, 2006 [EBook #76] -[This file last updated May 3, 2011] - -Language: English - - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUCKLEBERRY FINN *** - - - - -Produced by David Widger. Previous editions produced by Ron Burkey -and Internet Wiretap - - - - - -ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN - -By Mark Twain - - - -NOTICE - -PERSONS attempting to find a motive in this narrative will be prosecuted; -persons attempting to find a moral in it will be banished; persons -attempting to find a plot in it will be shot. - -BY ORDER OF THE AUTHOR, Per G.G., Chief of Ordnance. - - - - -EXPLANATORY - -IN this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro -dialect; the extremest form of the backwoods Southwestern dialect; the -ordinary "Pike County" dialect; and four modified varieties of this last. -The shadings have not been done in a haphazard fashion, or by guesswork; -but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of -personal familiarity with these several forms of speech. - -I make this explanation for the reason that without it many readers would -suppose that all these characters were trying to talk alike and not -succeeding. - -THE AUTHOR. - - - - - -ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN - -Scene: The Mississippi Valley Time: Forty to fifty years ago - - - -CHAPTER I. - -YOU don't know about me without you have read a book by the name of The -Adventures of Tom Sawyer; but that ain't no matter. That book was made -by Mr. Mark Twain, and he told the truth, mainly. There was things which -he stretched, but mainly he told the truth. That is nothing. I never -seen anybody but lied one time or another, without it was Aunt Polly, or -the widow, or maybe Mary. Aunt Polly--Tom's Aunt Polly, she is--and -Mary, and the Widow Douglas is all told about in that book, which is -mostly a true book, with some stretchers, as I said before. - -Now the way that the book winds up is this: Tom and me found the money -that the robbers hid in the cave, and it made 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 it fetched us a dollar a day apiece all the year round ---more than a body could tell what to do with. The Widow Douglas she took -me for her son, and allowed she would sivilize me; but it was rough -living in the house all the time, considering how dismal regular and -decent the widow was in all her ways; and so when I couldn't stand it no -longer I lit out. I got into my old rags and my sugar-hogshead again, -and was free and satisfied. But Tom Sawyer he hunted me up and said he -was going to start a band of robbers, and I might join if I would go back -to the widow and be respectable. So I went back. - -The widow she cried over me, and called me a poor lost lamb, and she -called me a lot of other names, too, but she never meant no harm by it. -She put me in them new clothes again, and I couldn't do nothing but sweat -and sweat, and feel all cramped up. Well, then, the old thing commenced -again. The widow rung a bell for supper, and you had to come to time. -When you got to the table you couldn't go right to eating, but you had to -wait for the widow to tuck down her head and grumble a little over the -victuals, though there warn't really anything the matter with them,--that -is, nothing only everything was cooked by itself. In a barrel of odds -and ends it is different; things get mixed up, and the juice kind of -swaps around, and the things go better. - -After supper she got out her book and learned me about Moses and the -Bulrushers, and I was in a sweat to find out all about him; but by and by -she let it out that Moses had been dead a considerable long time; so then -I didn't care no more about him, because I don't take no stock in dead -people. - -Pretty soon I wanted to smoke, and asked the widow to let me. But she -wouldn't. She said it was a mean practice and wasn't clean, and I must -try to not do it any more. That is just the way with some people. They -get down on a thing when they don't know nothing about it. Here she was -a-bothering about Moses, which was no kin to her, and no use to anybody, -being gone, you see, yet finding a power of fault with me for doing a -thing that had some good in it. And she took snuff, too; of course that -was all right, because she done it herself. - -Her sister, Miss Watson, a tolerable slim old maid, with goggles on, -had just come to live with her, and took a set at me now with a -spelling-book. She worked me middling hard for about an hour, and then -the widow made her ease up. I couldn't stood it much longer. Then for -an hour it was deadly dull, and I was fidgety. Miss Watson would say, -"Don't put your feet up there, Huckleberry;" and "Don't scrunch up like -that, Huckleberry--set up straight;" and pretty soon she would say, -"Don't gap and stretch like that, Huckleberry--why don't you try to -behave?" Then she told me all about the bad place, and I said I wished I -was there. She got mad then, but I didn't mean no harm. All I wanted was -to go somewheres; all I wanted was a change, I warn't particular. She -said it was wicked to say what I said; said she wouldn't say it for the -whole world; she was going to live so as to go to the good place. Well, -I couldn't see no advantage in going where she was going, so I made up my -mind I wouldn't try for it. But I never said so, because it would only -make trouble, and wouldn't do no good. - -Now she had got a start, and she went on and told me all about the good -place. She said all a body would have to do there was to go around all -day long with a harp and sing, forever and ever. So I didn't think much -of it. But I never said so. I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would -go there, and she said not by a considerable sight. I was glad about -that, because I wanted him and me to be together. - -Miss Watson she kept pecking at me, and it got tiresome and lonesome. By -and by they fetched the niggers in and had 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 -think of something cheerful, but it warn't no use. I felt so lonesome I -most wished I was dead. The stars were shining, and the leaves rustled -in the woods ever so mournful; and I heard an owl, away off, who-whooing -about somebody that was dead, and a whippowill and a dog crying about -somebody that was going to die; and the wind was trying to whisper -something to me, and I couldn't make out what it was, and so it made the -cold shivers run over me. Then away out in the woods I heard that kind of -a sound that a ghost makes when it wants to tell about something that's -on its mind and can't make itself understood, and so can't rest easy in -its grave, and has to go about that way every night grieving. I got so -down-hearted and scared I did wish I had some company. Pretty soon a -spider went crawling up my shoulder, and I flipped it off and it lit in -the candle; and before I could budge it was all shriveled up. I didn't -need anybody to tell me that that was an awful bad sign and would fetch -me some bad luck, so I was scared and most shook the clothes off of me. -I got up and turned around in my tracks three times and crossed my breast -every time; and then I tied up a little lock of my hair with a thread to -keep witches away. But I hadn't no confidence. You do that when you've -lost a horseshoe that you've found, instead of nailing it up over the -door, but I hadn't ever heard anybody say it was any way to keep off bad -luck when you'd killed a spider. - -I set down again, a-shaking all over, and got out my pipe for a smoke; -for the house was all as still as death now, and so the widow wouldn't -know. Well, after a long time I heard the clock away off in the town go -boom--boom--boom--twelve licks; and all still again--stiller than ever. -Pretty soon I heard a twig snap down in the dark amongst the trees ---something was a stirring. I set still and listened. Directly I could -just barely hear a "me-yow! me-yow!" down there. That was good! Says I, -"me-yow! me-yow!" as soft as I could, and then I put out the light and -scrambled out of the window on to the shed. Then I slipped down to the -ground 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 back towards the end of -the widow's garden, stooping down so as the branches wouldn't scrape our -heads. When we was passing by the kitchen I fell over a root and made a -noise. We scrouched down and laid still. Miss Watson's big nigger, -named Jim, was setting in the kitchen door; we could see him pretty -clear, because there was a light behind him. He got up and stretched his -neck out about a minute, listening. 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 warn't a sound, and we all there so close -together. There was a place on my ankle that got to itching, but I -dasn't scratch it; and then my ear begun to itch; and next my back, right -between my shoulders. Seemed like I'd die if I couldn't scratch. Well, -I've noticed that thing plenty times since. If you are with the quality, -or at a funeral, or trying to go to sleep when you ain't sleepy--if you -are anywheres where it won't do for you to scratch, why you will itch all -over in upwards of a thousand places. Pretty soon Jim says: - -"Say, who is you? Whar is you? Dog my cats ef I didn' hear sumf'n. -Well, I know what I's gwyne to do: I's gwyne to set down here and listen -tell I hears it agin." - -So he set down on the ground betwixt me and Tom. He leaned his back up -against a tree, and stretched his legs out till one of them most touched -one of mine. My nose begun to itch. It itched till the tears come into -my eyes. But I dasn't scratch. Then it begun to itch on the inside. -Next I got to itching underneath. I didn't know how I was going to set -still. This miserableness went on as much as six or seven minutes; but it -seemed a sight longer than that. I was itching in eleven different -places now. I reckoned I couldn't stand it more'n a minute longer, but I -set my teeth hard and got ready to try. Just then Jim begun to breathe -heavy; next he begun to snore--and then I was pretty soon comfortable -again. - -Tom he made a sign to me--kind of a little noise with his mouth--and we -went creeping away on our hands and knees. When we was ten foot off Tom -whispered to me, and wanted to tie Jim to the tree for fun. But I said -no; he might wake and make a disturbance, and then they'd find out I -warn't in. Then Tom said he hadn't got candles enough, and he would slip -in the kitchen and get some more. I didn't want him to try. I said Jim -might wake up and come. But Tom wanted to resk it; so we slid in there -and got three candles, and Tom laid five cents on the table for pay. -Then we got out, and I was in a sweat to get away; but nothing would do -Tom but he must crawl to where Jim was, on his hands and knees, and play -something on him. I waited, and it seemed a good while, everything was -so still and lonesome. - -As soon as Tom was back we cut along the path, around the garden fence, -and by and by fetched up on the steep top of the hill the other side of -the house. Tom said he slipped Jim's hat off of his head and hung it on -a limb right over him, and Jim stirred a little, but he didn't wake. -Afterwards Jim said the witches be witched him and put him in a trance, -and rode him all over the State, and then set him under the trees again, -and hung his hat on a limb to show who done it. And next time Jim told -it he said they rode him down to New Orleans; and, after that, every time -he told it he spread it more and more, till by and by he said they rode -him all over the world, and tired him most to death, and his back was all -over saddle-boils. Jim was monstrous proud about it, and he got so he -wouldn't hardly notice the other niggers. Niggers would come miles to -hear Jim tell about it, and he was more looked up to than any nigger in -that country. Strange niggers would stand with their mouths open and -look him all over, same as if he was a wonder. Niggers is always talking -about witches in the dark by the kitchen fire; but whenever one was -talking and letting on to know all about such things, Jim would happen in -and say, "Hm! What you know 'bout witches?" and that nigger was corked -up and had to take a back seat. Jim always kept that five-center piece -round his neck with a string, and said it was a charm the devil give to -him with his own hands, and told him he could cure anybody with it and -fetch witches whenever he wanted to just by saying something to it; but -he never told what it was he said to it. Niggers would come from all -around there and give Jim anything they had, just for a sight of that -five-center piece; but they wouldn't touch it, because the devil had had -his hands on it. Jim was most ruined for a servant, because he got stuck -up on account of having seen the devil and been rode by witches. - -Well, when Tom and me got to the edge of the hilltop we looked away down -into the village and could see three or four lights twinkling, where -there was sick folks, maybe; and the stars over us was sparkling ever so -fine; and down by the village was the river, a whole mile broad, and -awful still and grand. We went down the hill and found Jo Harper and Ben -Rogers, and two or three more of the boys, hid in the old tanyard. So we -unhitched a skiff and pulled down the 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 everybody swear to keep the -secret, and then showed them a hole in the hill, right in the thickest -part of the bushes. Then we lit the candles, and crawled in on our hands -and knees. We went about two hundred yards, and then the cave opened up. -Tom poked about amongst the passages, and pretty soon ducked under a wall -where you wouldn't a noticed that there was a hole. We went along a -narrow place and got into a kind of room, all damp and sweaty and cold, -and there we stopped. Tom says: - -"Now, we'll start this band of robbers and call it Tom Sawyer's Gang. -Everybody that wants to join has got to take an oath, and write his name -in blood." - -Everybody was willing. So Tom got out a sheet of paper that he had wrote -the oath on, and read it. It swore every boy 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 family -must do it, and he mustn't eat and he mustn't sleep till he had killed -them and hacked a cross in their breasts, which was the sign of the band. -And nobody that didn't belong to the band could use that mark, and if he -did he must be sued; and if he done it again he must be killed. And if -anybody that belonged to the band told the secrets, he must have his -throat cut, and then have his carcass burnt up and the ashes scattered -all around, and his name blotted off of the 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 Tom if he got it -out of his own head. He said, some of it, but the rest was out of -pirate-books and robber-books, and every gang that was high-toned had it. - -Some thought it would be good to kill the FAMILIES of boys that told the -secrets. Tom said it was a good idea, so he took a pencil and wrote it -in. Then Ben Rogers says: - -"Here's Huck Finn, he hain't got no family; what you going to do 'bout -him?" - -"Well, hain't he got a father?" says Tom Sawyer. - -"Yes, he's got a father, but you can't never find him these days. He -used to lay drunk with the hogs in the tanyard, but he hain't 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 somebody to kill, or else it wouldn't be -fair and square for the others. Well, nobody could think of anything to -do--everybody 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 Miss Watson--they -could kill her. Everybody said: - -"Oh, she'll do. That's 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. - -"Now," says Ben Rogers, "what's the line of business of this 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 ain't robbery; it's burglary," -says Tom Sawyer. "We ain't burglars. That ain't no sort of style. We -are highwaymen. We stop stages and carriages on the road, with masks on, -and kill the people and take their watches and money." - -"Must we always kill the people?" - -"Oh, certainly. It's best. Some authorities think different, but mostly -it's considered best to kill them--except some that you bring to the cave -here, and keep them till they're ransomed." - -"Ransomed? What's that?" - -"I don't know. But that's what they do. I've seen it in books; and so -of course that's what we've got to do." - -"But how can we do it if we don't know what it is?" - -"Why, blame it all, we've GOT to do it. Don't I tell you it's in the -books? Do you want to go to doing different from what's in the books, -and get things all muddled up?" - -"Oh, that's all very fine to SAY, Tom Sawyer, but how in the nation are -these fellows going to be ransomed if we don't know how to do it to them? ---that's the thing I want to get at. Now, what do you reckon it is?" - -"Well, I don't know. But per'aps if we keep them till they're ransomed, -it means that we keep them till they're dead." - -"Now, that's something LIKE. That'll answer. Why couldn't you said that -before? We'll keep them till they're ransomed to death; and a bothersome -lot they'll be, too--eating up everything, and always trying to get -loose." - -"How you talk, Ben Rogers. How can they get loose when there's a guard -over them, ready to shoot them down if they move a peg?" - -"A guard! Well, that IS good. So somebody's got to set up all night and -never get any sleep, just so as to watch them. I think that's -foolishness. Why can't a body take a club and ransom them as soon as they -get here?" - -"Because it ain't in the books so--that's why. Now, Ben Rogers, do you -want to do things regular, or don't you?--that's the idea. Don't you -reckon that the people that made the books knows what's the correct thing -to do? Do you reckon YOU can learn 'em anything? Not by a good deal. -No, sir, we'll just go on and ransom them in the regular way." - -"All right. I don't mind; but I say it's a fool way, anyhow. Say, do we -kill the women, too?" - -"Well, Ben Rogers, if I was as ignorant as you I wouldn't let on. Kill -the women? No; nobody ever saw anything in the books like that. You -fetch them to the cave, and you're always as polite as pie to them; and -by and by they fall in love with you, and never want to go home any -more." - -"Well, if that's the way I'm agreed, but I don't take no stock in it. -Mighty soon we'll have the cave so cluttered up with women, and fellows -waiting to be ransomed, that there won't be no place for the robbers. -But go ahead, I ain't got nothing to say." - -Little Tommy Barnes was asleep now, and when they waked him up he was -scared, and cried, and said he wanted to go home to his ma, and didn't -want to be a robber any more. - -So they all made fun of him, and called him cry-baby, and that made him -mad, and he said he would go straight and tell all the secrets. But Tom -give him five cents to keep quiet, and said we would all go home and meet -next week, and rob somebody and kill some people. - -Ben Rogers said he couldn't get out much, only Sundays, and so he wanted -to begin next Sunday; but all the boys said it would be wicked to do it -on Sunday, and that settled the thing. They agreed to get together and -fix a day as soon as they could, and then we elected Tom Sawyer first -captain and Jo Harper second captain of the Gang, and so started home. - -I clumb up the shed and crept into my window just before day was -breaking. My new clothes was all greased up and clayey, and I was -dog-tired. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -WELL, I got a good going-over in the morning from old Miss Watson on -account of my clothes; but the widow she didn't scold, 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, but nothing come of it. She told me to pray every day, and -whatever I asked for I would get it. But it warn't so. I tried it. -Once I got a fish-line, but no hooks. It warn't any good to me without -hooks. I tried for the hooks three or four times, but somehow I couldn't -make it work. By and by, one day, I asked Miss Watson to try for me, but -she said I was a fool. She never told me why, and I couldn't make it out -no way. - -I set down one time back in the woods, and had a long think about it. I -says to myself, if a body can get anything they pray for, why don't -Deacon Winn get back the money he lost on pork? Why can't the widow get -back her silver snuffbox that was stole? Why can't Miss Watson fat up? -No, says I to my self, there ain't nothing in it. I went and told the -widow about it, and she said the thing a body could get by praying for it -was "spiritual gifts." This was too many for me, but she told me what -she meant--I must help other people, and do everything I could for other -people, and look out for them all the time, and never think about myself. -This was including Miss Watson, as I took it. I went out in the woods -and turned it over in my mind a long time, but I couldn't see no -advantage about it--except for the other people; so at last I reckoned I -wouldn't worry about it any more, but just let it go. Sometimes the -widow would take me one side and talk about Providence in a way to make a -body's mouth water; but maybe next day Miss Watson would take hold and -knock it all down again. I judged I could see that there was two -Providences, and a poor chap would stand considerable show with the -widow's Providence, but if Miss Watson's got him there warn't no help for -him any more. I thought it all out, and reckoned I would belong to the -widow's if he wanted me, though I couldn't make out how he was a-going to -be any better off then than what he was before, seeing I was so ignorant, -and so kind of low-down and ornery. - -Pap he hadn't been seen for more than a year, and that was comfortable -for me; I didn't want to see him no more. He used to always whale me -when he was sober and could get his hands on me; though I used to take to -the woods most of the time when he was around. Well, about this time he -was found in the river drownded, about twelve mile above town, so people -said. They judged it was him, anyway; said this drownded man was just -his size, and was ragged, and had uncommon long hair, which was all like -pap; but they couldn't make nothing out of the face, because it had been -in the water so long it warn't much like a face at all. They said he was -floating on his back in the water. They took him and buried him on the -bank. But I warn't comfortable long, because I happened to think of -something. I knowed mighty well that a drownded man don't float on his -back, but on his face. So I knowed, then, that this warn't pap, but a -woman dressed up in a man's clothes. So I was uncomfortable again. I -judged the old man would turn up again by and by, though I wished he -wouldn't. - -We played robber now and then about a month, and then I resigned. All -the boys did. We hadn't robbed nobody, hadn't killed any people, but -only just pretended. We used to hop out of the woods and go charging -down on hog-drivers and women in carts taking garden stuff to market, but -we never hived any of them. Tom Sawyer called the hogs "ingots," and he -called the turnips and stuff "julery," and we would go to the cave and -powwow over what we had done, and how many people we had killed and -marked. But I couldn't see no profit in it. One time Tom sent a boy to -run about town with a blazing stick, which he called a slogan (which was -the sign for the Gang to get together), and then he said he had got -secret news by his spies that next day a whole parcel of Spanish -merchants and rich A-rabs was going to camp in Cave Hollow with two -hundred elephants, and six hundred camels, and over a thousand "sumter" -mules, all loaded down with di'monds, and they didn't have only a guard -of four hundred soldiers, and so we would lay in ambuscade, as he called -it, and kill the lot and scoop the things. He said we must slick up our -swords and guns, and get ready. He never could go after even a -turnip-cart but he must have the swords and guns all scoured up for it, -though they was only lath and broomsticks, and you might scour at them -till you rotted, and then they warn't worth a mouthful of ashes more than -what they was before. I didn't believe we could lick such a crowd of -Spaniards and A-rabs, but I wanted to see the camels and elephants, so I -was on hand next day, Saturday, in the ambuscade; and when we got the -word we rushed out of the woods and down the hill. But there warn't no -Spaniards and A-rabs, and there warn't no camels nor no elephants. It -warn't anything but a Sunday-school picnic, and only a primer-class at -that. We busted it up, and chased the children up the hollow; but we -never got anything but some doughnuts and jam, though Ben Rogers got a -rag doll, and Jo Harper got a hymn-book and a tract; and then the teacher -charged in, and made us drop everything and cut. I didn't see no -di'monds, and I told Tom Sawyer so. He said there was loads of them -there, anyway; and he said there was A-rabs there, too, and elephants and -things. I said, why couldn't we see them, then? He said if I warn't so -ignorant, but had read a book called Don Quixote, I would know without -asking. He said it was all done by enchantment. He said there was -hundreds of soldiers there, and elephants and treasure, and so on, but we -had enemies which he called magicians; and they had turned the whole -thing into an infant Sunday-school, just out of spite. I said, all -right; then the thing for us to do was to go for the magicians. Tom -Sawyer said I was a numskull. - -"Why," said he, "a magician could call up a lot of genies, and they would -hash you up like nothing before you could say Jack Robinson. They are as -tall as a tree and as big around as a church." - -"Well," I says, "s'pose we got some genies to help US--can't we lick the -other crowd then?" - -"How you going to get them?" - -"I don't 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-ripping around and the smoke -a-rolling, and everything they're told to do they up and do it. They -don't think nothing of pulling a shot-tower up by the roots, and belting -a Sunday-school superintendent 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 to whoever rubs the -lamp or the ring, and they've got to do whatever he says. If he tells -them to build a palace forty miles long out of di'monds, and fill it full -of chewing-gum, or whatever you want, and fetch an emperor's daughter -from China for you to marry, they've got to do it--and they've got to do -it before sun-up next morning, too. And more: they've got to waltz that -palace around over the country wherever you want it, you understand." - -"Well," says I, "I think they are a pack of flat-heads for not keeping -the palace themselves 'stead of fooling them away like that. And what's -more--if I was one of them I would see a man in Jericho before I would -drop my business and come to him for the rubbing of an old tin lamp." - -"How you talk, Huck Finn. Why, you'd HAVE to come when he rubbed it, -whether you wanted to or not." - -"What! and I as high as a tree and as big as a church? All right, then; -I WOULD come; but I lay I'd make that man climb the highest tree there -was in the country." - -"Shucks, it ain't no use to talk to you, Huck Finn. You don't seem to -know anything, somehow--perfect saphead." - -I thought all this over for two or three days, and then I reckoned I -would see if there was anything in it. I got an old tin lamp and an iron -ring, and went out in the woods and rubbed and rubbed till I sweat like -an Injun, calculating to build a palace and sell it; but it warn't no -use, none of the genies come. So then I judged that all that stuff was -only just one of Tom Sawyer's lies. I reckoned he believed in the A-rabs -and the elephants, but as for me I think different. It had all the marks -of a Sunday-school. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -WELL, three or four months run along, and it was well into the winter -now. I had been to school most all the time and could spell and read and -write just a little, and could say the multiplication table up to six -times seven is thirty-five, and I don't reckon I could ever get any -further than that if I was to live forever. I don't take no stock in -mathematics, anyway. - -At first I hated the school, but by and by I got so I could stand 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 to be. I was getting sort of used to the widow's ways, -too, and they warn't so raspy on me. Living in a house and sleeping in a -bed pulled on me pretty tight mostly, but before the cold weather I used -to slide out and sleep in the woods sometimes, and so that was a rest to -me. I liked the old ways best, but I was getting so I liked the new -ones, too, a little bit. The widow said I was coming along slow but sure, -and doing very satisfactory. She said she warn't ashamed of me. - -One morning I happened to turn over the salt-cellar at breakfast. I -reached for some of it as quick as I could to throw over my left shoulder -and keep off the bad luck, but Miss Watson was in ahead of me, and -crossed me off. She says, "Take your hands away, Huckleberry; what a mess -you are always making!" The widow put in a good word for me, but that -warn't going to keep off the bad luck, I knowed that well enough. I -started out, after breakfast, feeling worried and shaky, and wondering -where it was going to fall on me, and what it was going to be. There is -ways to keep off some kinds of bad luck, but this wasn't 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 stile where you go -through the high board fence. There was an inch of new snow on the -ground, and I seen somebody's tracks. They had come up from the quarry -and stood around the stile a while, and then went on around the garden -fence. It was funny they hadn't come in, after standing around so. I -couldn't make it out. It was very curious, somehow. I was going to -follow around, but I stooped down to look at the tracks first. I didn't -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 looked over my -shoulder every now and then, but I didn't see nobody. I was at Judge -Thatcher's as quick as I could get there. He said: - -"Why, my boy, you are all out of breath. Did you come for your -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 let me invest it along -with your six thousand, because if you take it you'll spend it." - -"No, sir," I says, "I don't want to spend it. I don't want it at 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 couldn't seem to make it out. He says: - -"Why, what can you mean, my boy?" - -I says, "Don't you ask me no questions about it, please. You'll take it ---won't you?" - -He says: - -"Well, I'm puzzled. Is something the matter?" - -"Please take it," says I, "and don't ask me nothing--then I won't 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. That's 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. Here's a dollar for you. Now you sign -it." - -So I signed it, and left. - -Miss Watson's nigger, Jim, had a hair-ball as big as your fist, which had -been took out of the fourth stomach of an ox, and he used to do magic -with it. He said there was a spirit inside of it, and it knowed -everything. So I went to him that night and told him pap was here again, -for I found his tracks in the snow. What I wanted to know was, what he -was going to do, and was he going to stay? Jim got out his hair-ball and -said something over it, and then he held it up and dropped it on the -floor. It fell pretty solid, and only rolled about an inch. Jim tried -it again, and then another time, and it acted just the same. Jim got -down on his knees, and put his ear against it and listened. But it -warn't no use; he said it wouldn't talk. He said sometimes it wouldn't -talk without money. I told him I had an old slick counterfeit quarter -that warn't no good because the brass showed through the silver a little, -and it wouldn't pass nohow, even if the brass didn't show, because it was -so slick it felt greasy, and so that would tell on it every time. (I -reckoned I wouldn't say nothing about the dollar I got from the judge.) I -said it was pretty bad money, but maybe the hair-ball would take it, -because maybe it wouldn't know the difference. Jim smelt it and bit it -and rubbed it, and said he would manage so the hair-ball would think it -was good. He said he would split open a raw Irish potato and stick the -quarter in between and keep it there all night, and next morning you -couldn't see no brass, and it wouldn't feel greasy no more, and so -anybody in town would take it in a minute, let alone a hair-ball. Well, -I knowed a potato would do that before, but I had forgot it. - -Jim put the quarter under the hair-ball, and got down and listened again. -This time he said the hair-ball was all right. He said it would tell my -whole fortune if I wanted it to. I says, go on. So the hair-ball talked -to Jim, and Jim told it to me. He says: - -"Yo' ole father doan' know yit what he's a-gwyne to do. Sometimes he -spec he'll go 'way, en den agin he spec he'll stay. De bes' way is to -res' easy en let de ole man take his own way. Dey's two angels hoverin' -roun' 'bout him. One uv 'em is white en shiny, en t'other one is black. -De white one gits him to go right a little while, den de black one sail -in en bust it all up. A body can't tell yit which one gwyne to fetch him -at de las'. But you is all right. You gwyne to have considable trouble -in yo' life, en considable joy. Sometimes you gwyne to git hurt, en -sometimes you gwyne to git sick; but every time you's gwyne to git well -agin. Dey's two gals flyin' 'bout you in yo' life. One uv 'em's light -en t'other one is dark. One is rich en t'other is po'. You's gwyne to -marry de po' one fust en de rich one by en by. You wants to keep 'way -fum de water as much as you kin, en don't run no resk, 'kase it's down in -de bills dat you's gwyne to git hung." - -When I lit my candle and went up to my room that night there sat pap--his -own self! - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -I HAD shut the door to. Then I turned around and there he was. I used -to be scared of him all the time, he tanned me so much. I reckoned I was -scared now, too; but in a minute I see I was mistaken--that is, after the -first jolt, as you may say, when my breath sort of hitched, he being so -unexpected; but right away after I see I warn't scared of him worth -bothring about. - -He was most fifty, and he looked it. His hair was long and tangled and -greasy, and hung down, and you could see his eyes shining through like he -was behind vines. It was all black, no gray; so was his long, mixed-up -whiskers. There warn't no color in his face, where his face showed; it -was white; not like another man's white, but a white to make a body sick, -a white to make a body's flesh crawl--a tree-toad white, a fish-belly -white. As for his clothes--just rags, that was all. He had one ankle -resting on t'other knee; the boot on that foot was busted, and two of his -toes stuck through, and he worked them now and then. His hat was laying -on the floor--an old black slouch with the 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. I noticed 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 you're a good deal of a big-bug, DON'T -you?" - -"Maybe I am, maybe I ain't," I says. - -"Don't you give me none o' your lip," says he. "You've put on -considerable many frills since I been away. I'll take you down a peg -before I get done with you. You're educated, too, they say--can read and -write. You think you're better'n your father, now, don't you, because he -can't? I'LL take it out of you. Who told you you might meddle with such -hifalut'n foolishness, 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 ain't none of her business?" - -"Nobody never told her." - -"Well, I'll learn her how to meddle. And looky here--you drop that -school, you hear? I'll learn people to bring up a boy to put on airs -over his own father and let on to be better'n what HE is. You lemme -catch you fooling around that school again, you hear? Your mother -couldn't read, and she couldn't write, nuther, before she died. None of -the family couldn't before THEY died. I can't; and here you're -a-swelling yourself up like this. I ain't the man to stand it--you hear? -Say, lemme hear you read." - -I took up a book and begun something about General Washington and the -wars. When I'd read about a half a minute, he fetched the book a whack -with his hand and knocked it across the house. He says: - -"It's so. You can do it. I had my doubts when you told me. Now looky -here; you stop that putting on frills. I won't have it. I'll lay for -you, my smarty; and if I catch you about that school I'll tan you good. -First you know you'll get religion, too. I never see such a son." - -He took up a little blue and yaller picture of some cows and a boy, and -says: - -"What's this?" - -"It's something they give me for learning my lessons good." - -He tore it up, and says: - -"I'll give you something better--I'll give you a cowhide." - -He set there a-mumbling and a-growling a minute, and then he says: - -"AIN'T you a sweet-scented dandy, though? A bed; and bedclothes; and a -look'n'-glass; and a piece of carpet on the floor--and your own father -got to sleep with the hogs in the tanyard. I never see such a son. I -bet I'll take some o' these frills out o' you before I'm done with you. -Why, there ain't no end to your airs--they say you're rich. Hey?--how's -that?" - -"They lie--that's how." - -"Looky here--mind how you talk to me; I'm a-standing about all I can -stand now--so don't gimme no sass. I've been in town two days, and I -hain't heard nothing but about you bein' rich. I heard about it away -down the river, too. That's why I come. You git me that money -to-morrow--I want it." - -"I hain't got no money." - -"It's a lie. Judge Thatcher's got it. You git it. I want it." - -"I hain't got no money, I tell you. You ask Judge Thatcher; he'll tell -you the same." - -"All right. I'll ask him; and I'll make him pungle, too, or I'll know -the reason why. Say, how much you got in your pocket? I want it." - -"I hain't got only a dollar, and I want that to--" - -"It don't 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 hadn't had a drink all day. -When he had got out on the shed he put his head in again, and cussed me -for putting on frills and trying to be better than him; and when I -reckoned he was gone he come back and put his head in again, and told me -to mind about that school, because he was going to lay for me and lick me -if I didn't drop that. - -Next day he was drunk, and he went to Judge Thatcher's and bullyragged -him, and tried to make him give up the money; but he couldn't, and then -he swore he'd make the law force him. - -The judge and the widow went to law to get the court to take me away from -him and let one of them be my guardian; but it was a new judge that had -just come, and he didn't know the old man; so he said courts mustn't -interfere and separate families if they could help it; said he'd druther -not take a child away from its father. So Judge Thatcher and the widow -had to quit on the business. - -That pleased the old man till he couldn't rest. He said he'd cowhide me -till I was black and blue if I didn't raise some money for him. I -borrowed three dollars from Judge Thatcher, and pap took it and got -drunk, and went a-blowing around and cussing and whooping and carrying -on; and he kept it up all over town, with a tin pan, till most midnight; -then they 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 he'd make it warm for HIM. - -When he got out the new judge said he was a-going to make a man of him. -So he took him to his own house, and dressed him up clean and nice, and -had him to breakfast and dinner and supper with the family, and was just -old pie to him, so to speak. And after supper he talked to him about -temperance and such things till the old man cried, and said he'd been a -fool, and fooled away his life; but now he was a-going to turn over a new -leaf and be a man nobody wouldn't be ashamed of, and he hoped the judge -would help him and not look down on him. The judge said he could hug him -for them words; so he cried, and his wife she cried again; pap said he'd -been a man that had always been misunderstood before, and the judge said -he believed it. The old man said that what a man wanted that was down -was sympathy, and the judge said it was so; so they cried again. And -when it was bedtime the old man rose up and held out his hand, and says: - -"Look at it, gentlemen and ladies all; take a-hold of it; shake it. -There's a hand that was the hand of a hog; but it ain't so no more; it's -the hand of a man that's started in on a new life, and'll die before -he'll go back. You mark them words--don't forget I said them. It's a -clean hand now; shake it--don't be afeard." - -So they shook it, one after the other, all around, and cried. The -judge's wife she kissed it. Then the old man he signed a pledge--made -his mark. The judge said it was the holiest time on record, or something -like that. Then they tucked the old man into a beautiful room, which was -the spare room, and in the night some time he got powerful thirsty and -clumb out on to the porch-roof and slid down a stanchion and traded his -new coat for a jug of forty-rod, and clumb back again and had a good old -time; and towards daylight he crawled out again, drunk as a fiddler, and -rolled off the porch and broke his left arm in two places, and was most -froze to death when somebody found him after sun-up. And when they come -to look at that spare room they had to take soundings before they could -navigate it. - -The judge he felt kind of sore. He said he reckoned a body could reform -the old man with a shotgun, maybe, but he didn't 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 make him give up that money, and he -went for me, too, for not stopping school. He catched me a couple of -times and thrashed me, but I went to school just the same, and dodged him -or outrun him most of the time. I didn't want to go to school much -before, but I reckoned I'd go now to spite pap. That law trial was a -slow business--appeared like they warn't ever going to get started on -it; so every now and then I'd borrow two or three dollars off of the -judge for him, to keep from getting a cowhiding. Every time he got money -he got drunk; and every time he got drunk he raised Cain around town; and -every time he raised Cain he got jailed. He was just suited--this kind -of thing was right in his line. - -He got to hanging around the widow's too much and so she told him at last -that if he didn't quit using around there she would make trouble for him. -Well, WASN'T he mad? He said he would show who was Huck Finn's boss. So -he watched out for me one day in the spring, and catched me, and took me -up the river about three mile in a skiff, and crossed over to the -Illinois shore where it was woody and there warn't no houses but an old -log hut in a place where the timber was so thick you couldn't find it if -you didn't know where it was. - -He kept me with him all the time, and I never got a chance to run off. -We lived in that old cabin, and he always locked the door and put the key -under his head nights. He had a gun which he had stole, I reckon, and we -fished and hunted, and that was what we lived on. Every little while he -locked me in and went down to the store, three miles, to the ferry, and -traded fish and game for whisky, and fetched it home and got drunk and -had a good time, and licked me. The widow she found out where I was by -and by, and she sent a man over to try to get hold of me; but pap drove -him off with the gun, and it warn't long after that till I was used to -being where I was, and liked it--all but the cowhide part. - -It was kind of lazy and jolly, laying off comfortable all day, smoking -and fishing, and no books nor study. Two months or more run along, and -my clothes got to be all rags and dirt, and I didn't see how I'd ever got -to like it so well at the widow's, where you had to wash, and eat on a -plate, and comb up, and go to bed and get up regular, and be forever -bothering over a book, and have old Miss Watson pecking at you all the -time. I didn't want to go back no more. I had stopped cussing, because -the widow didn't like it; but now I took to it again because pap hadn't -no objections. It was pretty good times up in the woods there, take it -all around. - -But by and by pap got too handy with his hick'ry, and I couldn't stand -it. I was all over welts. He got to going away so much, too, and locking -me in. Once he locked me in and was gone three days. It was dreadful -lonesome. I judged he had got drownded, and I wasn't ever going to get -out any more. I was scared. I made up my mind I would fix up some way -to leave there. I had tried to get out of that cabin many a time, but I -couldn't find no way. There warn't a window to it big enough for a dog -to get through. I couldn't get up the chimbly; it was too narrow. The -door was thick, solid oak slabs. Pap was pretty careful not to leave a -knife or anything in the cabin when he was away; I reckon I had hunted -the place over as much as a hundred times; well, I was most all the time -at it, because it was about the only way to put in the time. But this -time I found something at last; I found an old rusty wood-saw without any -handle; it was laid in between a rafter and the clapboards of the roof. -I greased it up and went to work. There was an old horse-blanket nailed -against the logs at the far end of the cabin behind the table, to keep -the wind from blowing through the chinks and putting the candle out. I -got under the table and raised the blanket, and went to work to saw a -section of the big bottom log out--big enough to let me through. Well, -it was a good long job, but I was getting towards the end of it when I -heard pap's gun in the woods. I got rid of the signs of my work, and -dropped the blanket and hid my saw, and pretty soon pap come in. - -Pap warn't 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 and get the money if they ever got started on -the trial; but then there was ways to put it off a long time, and Judge -Thatcher knowed how to do it. And he said people allowed there'd be -another trial to get me away from him and give me to the widow for my -guardian, and they guessed it would win this time. This shook me up -considerable, because I didn't want to go back to the widow's any more -and be so cramped up and sivilized, as they called it. Then the old man -got to cussing, and cussed everything and everybody he could think of, -and then cussed them all over again to make sure he hadn't skipped any, -and after that he polished off with a kind of a general cuss all round, -including a considerable parcel of people which he didn't know the names -of, and so called them what's-his-name when he got to them, and went -right along with his cussing. - -He said he would like to see the widow get me. He said he would watch -out, and if they tried to come any such game on him he knowed of a place -six or seven mile off to stow me in, where they might hunt till they -dropped and they couldn't find me. That made me pretty uneasy again, but -only for a minute; I reckoned I wouldn't stay on hand till he got that -chance. - -The old man made me go to the skiff and fetch the things he had got. -There was a fifty-pound sack of corn meal, and a side of bacon, -ammunition, and a four-gallon jug of whisky, and an old book and two -newspapers for wadding, besides some tow. I toted up a load, and went -back and set down on the bow of the skiff to rest. I thought it all -over, and I reckoned I would walk off with the gun and some lines, and -take to the woods when I run away. I guessed I wouldn't stay in one -place, but just tramp right across the country, mostly night times, and -hunt and fish to keep alive, and so get so far away that the old man nor -the widow couldn't ever find me any more. I judged I would saw out and -leave that night if pap got drunk enough, and I reckoned he would. I got -so full of it I didn't notice how long I was staying till the old man -hollered and asked me whether I was asleep or drownded. - -I got the things all up to the cabin, and then it was about dark. While -I was cooking supper the old man took a swig or two and got sort of -warmed up, and went to ripping again. He had been drunk over in town, -and laid in the gutter all night, and he was a sight to look at. A body -would a thought he was Adam--he was just all mud. Whenever his liquor -begun to work he most always went for the govment, this time he says: - -"Call this a govment! why, just look at it and see what it's like. -Here's the law a-standing ready to take a man's son away from him--a -man's own son, which he has had all the trouble and all the anxiety and -all the expense of raising. Yes, just as that man has got that son -raised at last, and ready to go to work and begin to do suthin' for HIM -and give him a rest, the law up and goes for him. And they call THAT -govment! That ain't all, nuther. The law backs that old Judge Thatcher -up and helps him to keep me out o' my property. Here's what the law -does: The law takes a man worth six thousand dollars and up'ards, and -jams him into an old trap of a cabin like this, and lets him go round in -clothes that ain't fitten for a hog. They call that govment! A man can't -get his rights in a govment like this. Sometimes I've a mighty notion to -just leave the country for good and all. Yes, and I TOLD 'em so; I told -old Thatcher so to his face. Lots of 'em heard me, and can tell what I -said. Says I, for two cents I'd leave the blamed country and never come -a-near it agin. Them's the very words. I says look at my hat--if you -call it a hat--but the lid raises up and the rest of it goes down till -it's below my chin, and then it ain't rightly a hat at all, but more like -my head was shoved up through a jint o' stove-pipe. Look at it, says I ---such a hat for me to wear--one of 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--a mulatter, most as white as a -white man. He had the whitest shirt on you ever see, too, and the -shiniest hat; and there ain't a man in that town that's got as fine -clothes as what he had; and he had a gold watch and chain, and a -silver-headed cane--the awfulest old gray-headed nabob in the State. And -what do you think? They said he was a p'fessor in a college, and could -talk all kinds of languages, and knowed everything. And that ain't the -wust. They said he could VOTE when he was at home. Well, that let me -out. Thinks I, what is the country a-coming to? It was 'lection day, and -I was just about to go and vote myself if I warn't too drunk to get -there; but when they told me there was a State in this country where -they'd let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I'll never vote agin. -Them's the very words I said; they all heard me; and the country may rot -for all me--I'll never vote agin as long as I live. And to see the cool -way of that nigger--why, he wouldn't a give me the road if I hadn't -shoved him out o' the way. I says to the people, why ain't this nigger -put up at auction and sold?--that's what I want to know. And what do you -reckon they said? Why, they said he couldn't be sold till he'd been in -the State six months, and he hadn't been there that long yet. There, -now--that's a specimen. They call that a govment that can't sell a free -nigger till he's been in the State six months. Here's a govment that -calls itself a govment, and lets on to be a govment, and thinks it is a -govment, and yet's got to set stock-still for six whole months before it -can take a hold of a prowling, thieving, infernal, white-shirted free -nigger, and--" - -Pap was agoing on so he never noticed where his old limber legs was -taking him to, so he went head over heels over the tub of salt pork and -barked both shins, and the rest of his speech was all the hottest kind of -language--mostly hove at the nigger and the govment, though he give the -tub some, too, all along, here and there. He hopped around the cabin -considerable, first on one leg and then on the other, holding first one -shin and then the other one, and at last he let out with his left foot -all of a sudden and fetched the tub a rattling kick. But it warn't good -judgment, because that was the boot that had a couple of his toes leaking -out of the front end of it; so now he raised a howl that fairly made a -body's hair raise, and down he went in the dirt, and rolled there, and -held his toes; and the cussing he done then laid over anything he had -ever done previous. He said so his own self afterwards. He had heard -old Sowberry Hagan in his best days, and he said it laid over him, too; -but I reckon that was sort of piling it on, maybe. - -After supper pap took the jug, and said he had enough whisky there for -two drunks and one delirium tremens. That was always his word. I judged -he would be blind drunk in about an hour, and then I would steal the key, -or saw myself out, one or t'other. He drank and drank, and tumbled down -on his blankets by and by; but luck didn't run my way. He didn't go -sound asleep, but was uneasy. He groaned and moaned and thrashed around -this way and that for a long time. At last I got so sleepy I couldn't -keep my eyes open all I could do, and so before I knowed what I was about -I was sound asleep, and the candle burning. - -I don't know how long I was asleep, but all of a sudden there was an -awful scream and I was up. There was pap looking wild, and skipping -around every which way and yelling about snakes. He said they was -crawling up his legs; and then he would give a jump and scream, and say -one had bit him on the cheek--but I couldn't see no snakes. He started -and run round and round the cabin, hollering "Take him off! take him off! -he's biting me on the neck!" I never see a man look so wild in the eyes. -Pretty soon he was all fagged out, and fell down panting; then he rolled -over and over wonderful fast, kicking things every which way, and -striking and grabbing at the air with his hands, and screaming and saying -there was devils a-hold of him. He wore out by and by, and laid still a -while, moaning. Then he laid stiller, and didn't make a sound. I could -hear the owls and the wolves away off in the woods, and it seemed -terrible still. He was laying over by the corner. By and by he raised up -part way and listened, with his head to one side. He says, very low: - -"Tramp--tramp--tramp; that's the dead; tramp--tramp--tramp; they're -coming after me; but I won't go. Oh, they're here! don't touch me ---don't! hands off--they're cold; let go. Oh, let a poor devil alone!" - -Then he went down on all fours and crawled off, begging them to let him -alone, and he rolled himself up in his blanket and wallowed in under the -old pine table, still a-begging; and then he went to crying. I could -hear him through the blanket. - -By and by he rolled out and jumped up on his feet looking wild, and he -see me and went for me. He chased me round and round the place with a -clasp-knife, calling me the Angel of Death, and saying he would kill me, -and then I couldn't come for him no more. I begged, and told him I was -only Huck; but he laughed SUCH a screechy laugh, and roared and cussed, -and kept on chasing me up. Once when I turned short and dodged under his -arm he made a grab and got me by the jacket between my shoulders, and I -thought I was gone; but I slid out of the jacket quick as lightning, and -saved myself. Pretty soon he was all tired out, and dropped down with his -back against the door, and said he would rest a minute and then kill me. -He put his knife under him, and said he would sleep and get strong, and -then he would see who 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 make any noise, and got down the -gun. I slipped the ramrod down it to make sure it was loaded, then I -laid it across the turnip barrel, pointing towards pap, and set down -behind it to wait for him to stir. And how slow and still the time did -drag along. - - - - -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 sound asleep. Pap was standing over me -looking sour and sick, too. He says: - -"What you doin' with this gun?" - -I judged he didn't know nothing about what he had been doing, so I says: - -"Somebody tried to get in, so I was laying for him." - -"Why didn't you roust me out?" - -"Well, I tried to, but I couldn't; I couldn't budge you." - -"Well, all right. Don't stand there palavering all day, but out with you -and see if there's a fish on the lines for breakfast. I'll 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 to rise. I reckoned I would have -great times now if I was over at the town. The June rise used to be -always luck for me; because as soon as that rise begins here comes -cordwood floating down, and pieces of log rafts--sometimes a dozen logs -together; so all you have to do is to catch them and sell them to the -wood-yards and the sawmill. - -I went along up the bank with one eye out for pap and t'other one out for -what the rise might fetch along. Well, all at once here comes a canoe; -just a beauty, too, about thirteen or fourteen foot long, riding high -like a duck. I shot head-first off of the bank like a frog, clothes and -all on, and struck out for the canoe. I just expected there'd be -somebody laying down in it, because people often done that to fool folks, -and when a chap had pulled a skiff out most to it they'd raise up and -laugh at him. But it warn't so this time. It was a drift-canoe sure -enough, and I clumb in and paddled her ashore. Thinks I, the old man -will be glad when he sees this--she's worth ten dollars. But when I -got to shore pap wasn't in sight yet, and as I was running her into a -little creek like a gully, all hung over with vines and willows, I struck -another idea: I judged I'd hide her good, and then, 'stead of taking to -the woods when I run off, I'd go down the river about fifty mile and camp -in one place for good, and not have such a rough time tramping on foot. - -It was pretty close to the shanty, and I thought I heard the old man -coming all the time; but I got her hid; and then I out and looked around -a bunch of willows, and there was the old man down the path a piece just -drawing a bead on a bird with his gun. So he hadn't 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 fell in the river, and that -was what made me so long. I knowed he would see I was wet, and then he -would be asking questions. We got five catfish off the lines and went -home. - -While we laid off after breakfast to sleep up, both of us being about -wore out, I got to thinking that if I could fix up some way to keep pap -and the widow from trying to follow me, it would be a certainer thing -than trusting to luck to get far enough off before they missed me; you -see, all kinds of things might happen. Well, I didn't see no way for a -while, but by and by pap raised up a minute to drink another barrel of -water, and he says: - -"Another time a man comes a-prowling round here you roust me out, you -hear? That man warn't here for no good. I'd a shot him. Next time you -roust me out, you hear?" - -Then he dropped down and went to sleep again; but what he had been saying -give me the very idea I wanted. I says to myself, I can fix it now so -nobody won't think of following me. - -About twelve o'clock we turned out and went along up the bank. The river -was coming up pretty fast, and lots of driftwood going by on the rise. -By and by along comes part of a log raft--nine logs fast together. We -went out with the skiff and towed it ashore. Then we had dinner. -Anybody but pap would a waited and seen the day through, so as to catch -more stuff; but that warn't pap's style. Nine logs was enough for one -time; he must shove right over to town and sell. So he locked me in and -took the skiff, and started off towing the raft about half-past three. I -judged he wouldn't come back that night. I waited till I reckoned he had -got a good start; then I out with my saw, and went to work on that log -again. Before he was t'other side of the river I was out of the hole; -him and his raft was just a speck on the water away off yonder. - -I took the sack of corn meal and took it to where the canoe was hid, and -shoved the vines and branches apart and put it in; then I done the same -with the side of bacon; then the whisky-jug. I took all the coffee and -sugar there was, and all the ammunition; I took the wadding; I took the -bucket and gourd; I took a dipper and a tin cup, and my old saw and two -blankets, and the skillet and the coffee-pot. I took fish-lines and -matches and other things--everything that was worth a cent. I cleaned -out the place. I wanted an axe, but there wasn't any, only the one out -at the woodpile, and I knowed why I was going to leave that. I fetched -out the gun, and now I was done. - -I had wore the ground a good deal crawling out of the hole and dragging -out so many things. So I fixed that as good as I could from the outside -by scattering dust on the place, which covered up the smoothness and the -sawdust. Then I fixed the piece of log back into its place, and put two -rocks under it and one against it to hold it there, for it was bent up at -that place and didn't quite touch ground. If you stood four or five foot -away and didn't know it was sawed, you wouldn't never notice it; and -besides, this was the back of the cabin, and it warn't likely anybody -would go fooling around there. - -It was all grass clear to the canoe, so I hadn't left a track. I -followed around to see. I stood on the bank and looked out over the -river. All safe. So I took the gun and went up a piece into the woods, -and was hunting around for some birds when I see a wild pig; hogs soon -went wild in them bottoms after they had got away from the prairie farms. -I shot this fellow and took him into camp. - -I took the axe and smashed in the door. I beat it and hacked it -considerable a-doing it. I fetched the pig in, and took him back nearly -to the table and hacked into his throat with the axe, and laid him down -on the ground to bleed; I say ground because it was ground--hard packed, -and no boards. Well, next I took an old sack and put a lot of big rocks -in it--all I could drag--and I started it from the pig, and dragged it -to the door and through the woods down to the river and dumped it in, and -down it sunk, out of sight. You could easy see that something had been -dragged over the ground. I did wish Tom Sawyer was there; I knowed he -would take an interest in this kind of business, and throw in the fancy -touches. Nobody could spread himself like Tom Sawyer in such a thing as -that. - -Well, last I pulled out some of my hair, and blooded the axe good, and -stuck it on the back side, and slung the axe in the corner. Then I took -up the pig and held him to my breast with my jacket (so he couldn't drip) -till I got a good piece below the house and then dumped him into the -river. Now I thought of something else. So I went and got the bag of -meal and my old saw out of the canoe, and fetched them to the house. I -took the bag to where it used to stand, and ripped a hole in the bottom -of it with the saw, for there warn't no knives and forks on the place ---pap done everything with his clasp-knife about the cooking. Then I -carried the sack about a hundred yards across the grass and through the -willows east of the house, to a shallow lake that was five mile wide and -full of rushes--and ducks too, you might say, in the season. There was a -slough or a creek leading out of it on the other side that went miles -away, I don't know where, but it didn't go to the river. The meal sifted -out and made a little track all the way to the lake. I dropped pap's -whetstone there too, so as to look like it had been done by accident. -Then I tied up the rip in the meal sack with a string, so it wouldn't -leak no more, and took it and my saw to the canoe again. - -It was about dark now; so I dropped the canoe down the river under some -willows that hung over the bank, and waited for the moon to rise. I made -fast to a willow; then I took a bite to eat, and by and by laid down in -the canoe to smoke a pipe and lay out a plan. I says to myself, they'll -follow the track of that sackful of rocks to the shore and then drag the -river for me. And they'll follow that meal track to the lake and go -browsing down the creek that leads out of it to find the robbers that -killed me and took the things. They won't ever hunt the river for -anything but my dead carcass. They'll soon get tired of that, and won't -bother no more about me. All right; I can stop anywhere I want to. -Jackson's Island is good enough for me; I know that island pretty well, -and nobody ever comes there. And then I can paddle over to town nights, -and slink around and pick up things I want. Jackson's Island's the place. - -I was pretty tired, and the first thing I knowed I was asleep. When I -woke up I didn't know where I was for a minute. I set up and looked -around, a little scared. Then I remembered. The river looked miles and -miles across. The moon was so bright I could a counted the drift logs -that went a-slipping along, black and still, hundreds of yards out from -shore. Everything was dead quiet, and it looked late, and SMELT late. -You know what I mean--I don't know the words to put it in. - -I took a good gap and a stretch, and was just going to unhitch and start -when I heard a sound away over the water. I listened. Pretty soon I -made it out. It was that dull kind of a regular sound that comes from -oars working in rowlocks when it's a still night. I peeped out through -the willow branches, and there it was--a skiff, away across the water. I -couldn't tell how many was in it. It kept a-coming, and when it was -abreast of me I see there warn't but one man in it. Think's I, maybe -it's pap, though I warn't expecting him. He dropped below me with the -current, and by and by he came a-swinging up shore in the easy water, and -he went by so close I could a reached out the gun and touched him. Well, -it WAS pap, sure enough--and sober, too, by the way he laid his oars. - -I didn't lose no time. The next minute I was a-spinning down stream soft -but quick in the shade of the bank. I made two mile and a half, and then -struck out a quarter of a mile or more towards the middle of the river, -because pretty soon I would be passing the ferry landing, and people -might see me and hail me. I got out amongst the driftwood, and then laid -down in the bottom of the canoe and let her float. I laid there, and had -a good rest and a smoke out of my pipe, looking away into the sky; not a -cloud in it. The sky looks ever so deep when you lay down on your back -in the moonshine; I never knowed it before. And how far a body can hear -on the water such nights! I heard people talking at the ferry landing. -I heard what they said, too--every word of it. One man said it was -getting towards the long days and the short nights now. T'other one said -THIS warn't one of the short ones, he reckoned--and then they laughed, -and he said it over again, and they laughed again; then they waked up -another fellow and told him, and laughed, but he didn't laugh; he ripped -out something brisk, and said let him alone. The first fellow said he -'lowed to tell it to his old woman--she would think it was pretty good; -but he said that warn't nothing to some things he had said in his time. -I heard one man say it was nearly three o'clock, and he hoped daylight -wouldn't wait more than about a week longer. After that the talk got -further and further away, and I couldn't make out the words any more; but -I could hear the mumble, and now and then a laugh, too, but it seemed a -long ways off. - -I was away below the ferry now. I rose up, and there was Jackson's -Island, about two mile and a half down stream, heavy timbered and -standing up out of the middle of the river, big and dark and solid, like -a steamboat without any lights. There warn't any signs of the bar at the -head--it was all under water now. - -It didn't take me long to get there. I shot past the head at a ripping -rate, the current was so swift, and then I got into the dead water and -landed on the side towards the Illinois shore. I run the canoe into a -deep dent in the bank that I knowed about; I had to part the willow -branches to get in; and when I made fast nobody could a seen the canoe -from the 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 and away over to the town, three -mile away, where there was three or four lights twinkling. A monstrous -big lumber-raft was about a mile up stream, coming along down, with a -lantern in the middle of it. I watched it come creeping down, and when -it was most abreast of where I stood I heard a man say, "Stern oars, -there! heave her head to stabboard!" I heard that just as plain as if -the man was by my side. - -There was a little gray in the sky now; so I stepped into the woods, and -laid down for a nap before breakfast. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -THE sun was up so high when I waked that I judged it was after eight -o'clock. I laid there in the grass and the cool shade thinking about -things, and feeling rested and ruther comfortable and satisfied. I could -see the sun out at one or two holes, but mostly it was big trees all -about, and gloomy in there amongst them. There was freckled places on -the ground where the light sifted down through the leaves, and the -freckled places swapped about a little, showing there was a little breeze -up there. A couple of squirrels set on a limb and jabbered at me very -friendly. - -I was powerful lazy and comfortable--didn't want to get up and cook -breakfast. Well, I was dozing off again when I thinks I hears a deep -sound of "boom!" away up the river. I rouses up, and rests on my elbow -and listens; pretty soon I hears it again. I hopped up, and went and -looked out at a hole in the leaves, and I see a bunch of smoke laying on -the water a long ways up--about abreast the ferry. And there was the -ferryboat full of people floating along down. I knowed what was the -matter now. "Boom!" I see the white smoke squirt out of the ferryboat's -side. You see, they was firing cannon over the water, trying to make my -carcass come to the top. - -I was pretty hungry, but it warn't going to do for me to start a fire, -because they might see the smoke. So I set there and watched the -cannon-smoke and listened to the boom. The river was a mile wide there, -and it always looks pretty on a summer morning--so I was having a good -enough time seeing them hunt for my remainders if I only had a bite to -eat. Well, then I happened to think how they always put quicksilver in -loaves of bread and float them off, because they always go right to the -drownded carcass and stop there. So, says I, I'll keep a lookout, and if -any of them's floating around after me I'll give them a show. I changed -to the Illinois edge of the island to see what luck I could have, and I -warn't disappointed. A big double loaf come along, and I most got it -with a long stick, but my foot slipped and she floated out further. Of -course I was where the current set in the closest to the shore--I knowed -enough for that. But by and by along comes another one, and this time I -won. I took out the plug and shook out the little dab of quicksilver, -and set my teeth in. It was "baker's bread"--what the quality eat; none -of your low-down corn-pone. - -I got a good place amongst the leaves, and set there on a log, munching -the bread and watching the ferry-boat, and very well satisfied. And then -something struck me. I says, now I reckon the widow or the parson or -somebody prayed that this bread would find me, and here it has gone and -done it. So there ain't no doubt but there is something in that thing ---that is, there's something in it when a body like the widow or the parson -prays, but it don't work for me, and I reckon it don't work for only just -the right kind. - -I lit a pipe and had a good long smoke, and went on watching. The -ferryboat was floating with the current, and I allowed I'd have a chance -to see who was aboard when she come along, because she would come in -close, where the bread did. When she'd got pretty well along down -towards me, I put out my pipe and went to where I fished out the bread, -and laid down behind a log on the bank in a little open place. Where the -log forked I could peep through. - -By and by she come along, and she drifted in so close that they could a -run out a plank and walked ashore. Most everybody was on the boat. Pap, -and Judge Thatcher, and Bessie Thatcher, and Jo Harper, and Tom Sawyer, -and his old Aunt Polly, and Sid and Mary, and plenty more. Everybody was -talking about the murder, but the captain broke in and says: - -"Look sharp, now; the current sets in the closest here, and maybe he's -washed ashore and got tangled amongst the brush at the water's edge. I -hope so, anyway." - -I didn't hope so. They all crowded up and leaned over the rails, nearly -in my face, and kept still, watching with all their might. I could see -them first-rate, but they couldn't see me. Then the captain sung out: - -"Stand away!" and the cannon let off such a blast right before me that it -made me deef with the noise and pretty near blind with the smoke, and I -judged I was gone. If they'd a had some bullets in, I reckon they'd a -got the corpse they was after. Well, I see I warn't hurt, thanks to -goodness. The boat floated on and went out of sight around the shoulder -of the island. I could hear the booming now and then, further and -further off, and by and by, after an hour, I didn't hear it no more. The -island was three mile long. I judged they had got to the foot, and was -giving it up. But they didn't yet a while. They turned around the foot -of the island and started up the channel on the Missouri side, under -steam, and booming once in a while as they went. I crossed over to that -side and watched them. When they got abreast the head of the island they -quit shooting and dropped over to the 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 made me a nice camp in the thick -woods. I made a kind of a tent out of my blankets to put my things under -so the rain couldn't get at them. I catched a catfish and haggled him -open with my saw, and towards sundown I started my camp fire and had -supper. Then I set out a line to catch some fish for breakfast. - -When it was dark I set by my camp fire smoking, and feeling pretty well -satisfied; but by and by it got sort of lonesome, and so I went and set -on the bank and listened to the current swashing along, and counted the -stars and drift logs and rafts that come down, and then went to bed; -there ain't no better way to put in time when you are lonesome; you can't -stay so, you soon get over it. - -And so for three days and nights. No difference--just the same thing. -But the next day I went exploring around down through the island. I was -boss of it; it all belonged to me, so to say, and I wanted to know all -about it; but mainly I wanted to put in the time. I found plenty -strawberries, ripe and prime; and green summer grapes, and green -razberries; and the green blackberries was just beginning to show. They -would all come handy by and by, I judged. - -Well, I went fooling along in the deep woods till I judged I warn't far -from the foot of the island. I had my gun along, but I hadn't shot -nothing; it was for protection; thought I would kill some game nigh home. -About this time I mighty near stepped on a good-sized snake, and it went -sliding off through the grass and flowers, and I after it, trying to get -a shot at it. I clipped along, and all of a sudden I bounded right on to -the ashes of a camp fire that was still smoking. - -My heart jumped up amongst my lungs. I never waited for to look further, -but uncocked my gun and went sneaking back on my tiptoes as fast as ever -I could. Every now and then I stopped a second amongst the thick leaves -and listened, but my breath come so hard I couldn't hear nothing else. 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 person had cut one of my breaths in two -and I only got half, and the short half, too. - -When I got to camp I warn't feeling very brash, there warn't much sand in -my craw; but I says, this ain't no time to be fooling around. So I got -all my traps into my canoe again so as to have them out of sight, and I -put out the fire and scattered the ashes around to look like an old last -year's camp, and then clumb a tree. - -I reckon I was up in the tree two hours; but I didn't see nothing, I -didn't hear nothing--I only THOUGHT I heard and seen as much as a -thousand things. Well, I couldn't stay up there forever; so at last I -got down, but I kept in the thick woods and on the lookout all the time. -All I could get to eat was berries and what was left over from breakfast. - -By the time it was night I was pretty hungry. So when it was good and -dark I slid out from shore before moonrise and paddled over to the -Illinois bank--about a quarter of a mile. I went out in the woods and -cooked a supper, and I had about made up my mind I would stay there all -night when I hear a PLUNKETY-PLUNK, PLUNKETY-PLUNK, and says to myself, -horses coming; and next I hear people's voices. I got everything into -the canoe as quick as I could, and then went creeping through the woods -to see what I could find out. I hadn't got far when I hear a man say: - -"We better camp here if we can find a good place; the horses is about -beat out. Let's look around." - -I didn't wait, but shoved out and paddled away easy. I tied up in the -old place, and reckoned I would sleep in the canoe. - -I didn't sleep much. I couldn't, somehow, for thinking. And every time -I waked up I thought somebody had me by the neck. So the sleep didn't do -me no good. By and by I says to myself, I can't live this way; I'm -a-going to find out who it is that's here on the island with me; I'll -find it out or bust. Well, I felt better right off. - -So I took my paddle and slid out from shore just a step or two, and then -let the canoe drop along down amongst the shadows. The moon was shining, -and outside of the shadows it made it most as light as day. I poked -along well on to an hour, everything still as rocks and sound asleep. -Well, by this time I was most down to the foot of the island. A little -ripply, cool breeze begun to blow, and that was as good as saying the -night was about done. I give her a turn with the paddle and brung her -nose to shore; then I got my gun and slipped out and into the edge of the -woods. I sat down there on a log, and looked out through the leaves. I -see the moon go off watch, and the darkness begin to blanket the river. -But in a little while I see a pale streak over the treetops, and knowed -the day was coming. So I took my gun and slipped off towards where I had -run across that camp fire, stopping every minute or two to listen. But I -hadn't no luck somehow; I couldn't seem to find the place. But by and -by, sure enough, I catched a glimpse of fire away through the trees. I -went for it, cautious and slow. By and by I was close enough to have a -look, and there laid a man on the ground. It most give me the fan-tods. -He had a blanket around his head, and his head was nearly in the fire. I -set there behind a clump of bushes, in about six foot of him, and kept my -eyes on him steady. It was getting gray daylight now. Pretty soon he -gapped and stretched himself and hove off the blanket, and it was Miss -Watson's Jim! I bet I was glad to see him. I says: - -"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--don't! I hain't 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 b'longs, en doan' do nuffn to Ole Jim, 'at 'uz awluz -yo' fren'." - -Well, I warn't long making him understand I warn't dead. I was ever so -glad to see Jim. I warn't lonesome now. I told him I warn't afraid of -HIM telling the people where I was. I talked along, but he only set -there and looked at me; never said nothing. Then I says: - -"It's good daylight. Le's get breakfast. Make up your camp fire good." - -"What's de use er makin' up de camp fire to cook strawbries en sich -truck? But you got a gun, hain't you? Den we kin git sumfn better den -strawbries." - -"Strawberries and such truck," I says. "Is that what you live on?" - -"I couldn' git nuffn else," he says. - -"Why, how long you been on the island, Jim?" - -"I come heah de night arter you's killed." - -"What, all that time?" - -"Yes--indeedy." - -"And ain't you had nothing but that kind of rubbage to eat?" - -"No, sah--nuffn else." - -"Well, you must be most starved, ain't you?" - -"I reck'n I could eat a hoss. I think I could. How long you ben on de -islan'?" - -"Since the night I got killed." - -"No! W'y, what has you lived on? But you got a gun. Oh, yes, you got a -gun. Dat's good. Now you kill sumfn en I'll make up de fire." - -So we went over to where the canoe was, and while he built a fire in a -grassy open place amongst the trees, I fetched meal and bacon and coffee, -and coffee-pot and frying-pan, and sugar and tin cups, and the nigger was -set back considerable, because he reckoned it was all done with -witchcraft. I catched a good big catfish, too, and Jim cleaned him with -his knife, and fried him. - -When breakfast was ready we lolled on the grass and eat it smoking hot. -Jim laid it in with all his might, for he was most about starved. Then -when we had got pretty well stuffed, we laid off and lazied. By and by -Jim says: - -"But looky here, Huck, who wuz it dat 'uz killed in dat shanty ef it -warn't you?" - -Then I told him the whole thing, and he said it was smart. He said Tom -Sawyer couldn't get up no better plan than what I had. Then I says: - -"How do you come to be here, Jim, and how'd you get here?" - -He looked pretty uneasy, and didn't say nothing for a minute. Then he -says: - -"Maybe I better not tell." - -"Why, Jim?" - -"Well, dey's reasons. But you wouldn' tell on me ef I uz to tell you, -would you, Huck?" - -"Blamed if I would, Jim." - -"Well, I b'lieve 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 wouldn't, and I'll stick to it. Honest INJUN, I -will. People would call me a low-down Abolitionist and despise me for -keeping mum--but that don't make no difference. I ain't a-going to tell, -and I ain't a-going back there, anyways. So, now, le's know all about -it." - -"Well, you see, it 'uz dis way. Ole missus--dat's Miss Watson--she pecks -on me all de time, en treats me pooty rough, but she awluz said she -wouldn' sell me down to Orleans. But I noticed dey wuz a nigger trader -roun' de place considable lately, en I begin to git oneasy. Well, one -night I creeps to de do' pooty late, en de do' warn't quite shet, en I -hear old missus tell de widder she gwyne to sell me down to Orleans, but -she didn' want to, but she could git eight hund'd dollars for me, en it -'uz sich a big stack o' money she couldn' resis'. De widder she try to -git her to say she wouldn' do it, but I never waited to hear de res'. I -lit out mighty quick, I tell you. - -"I tuck out en shin down de hill, en 'spec to steal a ski
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