THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER 13 страница

Shortly afterward they slipped out of the house in the deepening

twilight, and moved toward the river with their precious box.

Tom and Huck rose up, weak but vastly relieved, and stared after them

through the chinks between the logs of the house. Follow? Not they.

They were content to reach ground again without broken necks, and take

the townward track over the hill. They did not talk much. They were too

much absorbed in hating themselves--hating the ill luck that made them

take the spade and the pick there. But for that, Injun Joe never would

have suspected. He would have hidden the silver with the gold to wait

there till his " revenge" was satisfied, and then he would have had the

misfortune to find that money turn up missing. Bitter, bitter luck that

the tools were ever brought there!

They resolved to keep a lookout for that Spaniard when he should come

to town spying out for chances to do his revengeful job, and follow him

to " Number Two, " wherever that might be. Then a ghastly thought

occurred to Tom.

" Revenge? What if he means US, Huck! "

" Oh, don't! " said Huck, nearly fainting.

They talked it all over, and as they entered town they agreed to

believe that he might possibly mean somebody else--at least that he

might at least mean nobody but Tom, since only Tom had testified.

Very, very small comfort it was to Tom to be alone in danger! Company

would be a palpable improvement, he thought.

CHAPTER XXVII

THE adventure of the day mightily tormented Tom's dreams that night.

Four times he had his hands on that rich treasure and four times it

wasted to nothingness in his fingers as sleep forsook him and

wakefulness brought back the hard reality of his misfortune. As he lay

in the early morning recalling the incidents of his great adventure, he

noticed that they seemed curiously subdued and far away--somewhat as if

they had happened in another world, or in a time long gone by. Then it

occurred to him that the great adventure itself must be a dream! There

was one very strong argument in favor of this idea--namely, that the

quantity of coin he had seen was too vast to be real. He had never seen

as much as fifty dollars in one mass before, and he was like all boys

of his age and station in life, in that he imagined that all references

to " hundreds" and " thousands" were mere fanciful forms of speech, and

that no such sums really existed in the world. He never had supposed

for a moment that so large a sum as a hundred dollars was to be found

in actual money in any one's possession. If his notions of hidden

treasure had been analyzed, they would have been found to consist of a

handful of real dimes and a bushel of vague, splendid, ungraspable

dollars.

But the incidents of his adventure grew sensibly sharper and clearer

under the attrition of thinking them over, and so he presently found

himself leaning to the impression that the thing might not have been a

dream, after all. This uncertainty must be swept away. He would snatch

a hurried breakfast and go and find Huck. Huck was sitting on the

gunwale of a flatboat, listlessly dangling his feet in the water and

looking very melancholy. Tom concluded to let Huck lead up to the

subject. If he did not do it, then the adventure would be proved to

have been only a dream.

" Hello, Huck! "

" Hello, yourself. "

Silence, for a minute.

" Tom, if we'd 'a' left the blame tools at the dead tree, we'd 'a' got

the money. Oh, ain't it awful! "

" 'Tain't a dream, then, 'tain't a dream! Somehow I most wish it was.

Dog'd if I don't, Huck. "

" What ain't a dream? "

" Oh, that thing yesterday. I been half thinking it was. "

" Dream! If them stairs hadn't broke down you'd 'a' seen how much dream

it was! I've had dreams enough all night--with that patch-eyed Spanish

devil going for me all through 'em--rot him! "

" No, not rot him. FIND him! Track the money! "

" Tom, we'll never find him. A feller don't have only one chance for

such a pile--and that one's lost. I'd feel mighty shaky if I was to see

him, anyway. "

" Well, so'd I; but I'd like to see him, anyway--and track him out--to

his Number Two. "

" Number Two--yes, that's it. I been thinking 'bout that. But I can't

make nothing out of it. What do you reckon it is? "

" I dono. It's too deep. Say, Huck--maybe it's the number of a house! "

" Goody! ... No, Tom, that ain't it. If it is, it ain't in this

one-horse town. They ain't no numbers here. "

" Well, that's so. Lemme think a minute. Here--it's the number of a

room--in a tavern, you know! "

" Oh, that's the trick! They ain't only two taverns. We can find out

quick. "

" You stay here, Huck, till I come. "

Tom was off at once. He did not care to have Huck's company in public

places. He was gone half an hour. He found that in the best tavern, No.

2 had long been occupied by a young lawyer, and was still so occupied.

In the less ostentatious house, No. 2 was a mystery. The

tavern-keeper's young son said it was kept locked all the time, and he

never saw anybody go into it or come out of it except at night; he did

not know any particular reason for this state of things; had had some

little curiosity, but it was rather feeble; had made the most of the

mystery by entertaining himself with the idea that that room was

" ha'nted"; had noticed that there was a light in there the night before.

" That's what I've found out, Huck. I reckon that's the very No. 2

we're after. "

" I reckon it is, Tom. Now what you going to do? "

" Lemme think. "

Tom thought a long time. Then he said:

" I'll tell you. The back door of that No. 2 is the door that comes out

into that little close alley between the tavern and the old rattle trap

of a brick store. Now you get hold of all the door-keys you can find,

and I'll nip all of auntie's, and the first dark night we'll go there

and try 'em. And mind you, keep a lookout for Injun Joe, because he

said he was going to drop into town and spy around once more for a

chance to get his revenge. If you see him, you just follow him; and if

he don't go to that No. 2, that ain't the place. "

" Lordy, I don't want to foller him by myself! "

" Why, it'll be night, sure. He mightn't ever see you--and if he did,

maybe he'd never think anything. "

" Well, if it's pretty dark I reckon I'll track him. I dono--I dono.

I'll try. "

" You bet I'll follow him, if it's dark, Huck. Why, he might 'a' found

out he couldn't get his revenge, and be going right after that money. "

" It's so, Tom, it's so. I'll foller him; I will, by jingoes! "

" Now you're TALKING! Don't you ever weaken, Huck, and I won't. "

CHAPTER XXVIII

THAT night Tom and Huck were ready for their adventure. They hung

about the neighborhood of the tavern until after nine, one watching the

alley at a distance and the other the tavern door. Nobody entered the

alley or left it; nobody resembling the Spaniard entered or left the

tavern door. The night promised to be a fair one; so Tom went home with

the understanding that if a considerable degree of darkness came on,

Huck was to come and " maow, " whereupon he would slip out and try the

keys. But the night remained clear, and Huck closed his watch and

retired to bed in an empty sugar hogshead about twelve.

Tuesday the boys had the same ill luck. Also Wednesday. But Thursday

night promised better. Tom slipped out in good season with his aunt's

old tin lantern, and a large towel to blindfold it with. He hid the

lantern in Huck's sugar hogshead and the watch began. An hour before

midnight the tavern closed up and its lights (the only ones

thereabouts) were put out. No Spaniard had been seen. Nobody had

entered or left the alley. Everything was auspicious. The blackness of

darkness reigned, the perfect stillness was interrupted only by

occasional mutterings of distant thunder.

Tom got his lantern, lit it in the hogshead, wrapped it closely in the

towel, and the two adventurers crept in the gloom toward the tavern.

Huck stood sentry and Tom felt his way into the alley. Then there was a

season of waiting anxiety that weighed upon Huck's spirits like a

mountain. He began to wish he could see a flash from the lantern--it

would frighten him, but it would at least tell him that Tom was alive

yet. It seemed hours since Tom had disappeared. Surely he must have

fainted; maybe he was dead; maybe his heart had burst under terror and

excitement. In his uneasiness Huck found himself drawing closer and

closer to the alley; fearing all sorts of dreadful things, and

momentarily expecting some catastrophe to happen that would take away

his breath. There was not much to take away, for he seemed only able to

inhale it by thimblefuls, and his heart would soon wear itself out, the

way it was beating. Suddenly there was a flash of light and Tom came

tearing by him: " Run! " said he; " run, for your life! "

He needn't have repeated it; once was enough; Huck was making thirty

or forty miles an hour before the repetition was uttered. The boys

never stopped till they reached the shed of a deserted slaughter-house

at the lower end of the village. Just as they got within its shelter

the storm burst and the rain poured down. As soon as Tom got his breath

he said:

" Huck, it was awful! I tried two of the keys, just as soft as I could;

but they seemed to make such a power of racket that I couldn't hardly

get my breath I was so scared. They wouldn't turn in the lock, either.

Well, without noticing what I was doing, I took hold of the knob, and

open comes the door! It warn't locked! I hopped in, and shook off the

towel, and, GREAT CAESAR'S GHOST! "

" What! --what'd you see, Tom? "

" Huck, I most stepped onto Injun Joe's hand! "

" No! "

" Yes! He was lying there, sound asleep on the floor, with his old

patch on his eye and his arms spread out. "

" Lordy, what did you do? Did he wake up? "

" No, never budged. Drunk, I reckon. I just grabbed that towel and

started! "

" I'd never 'a' thought of the towel, I bet! "

" Well, I would. My aunt would make me mighty sick if I lost it. "

" Say, Tom, did you see that box? "

" Huck, I didn't wait to look around. I didn't see the box, I didn't

see the cross. I didn't see anything but a bottle and a tin cup on the

floor by Injun Joe; yes, I saw two barrels and lots more bottles in the

room. Don't you see, now, what's the matter with that ha'nted room? "

" How? "

" Why, it's ha'nted with whiskey! Maybe ALL the Temperance Taverns have

got a ha'nted room, hey, Huck? "

" Well, I reckon maybe that's so. Who'd 'a' thought such a thing? But

say, Tom, now's a mighty good time to get that box, if Injun Joe's

drunk. "

" It is, that! You try it! "

Huck shuddered.

" Well, no--I reckon not. "

" And I reckon not, Huck. Only one bottle alongside of Injun Joe ain't

enough. If there'd been three, he'd be drunk enough and I'd do it. "

There was a long pause for reflection, and then Tom said:

" Lookyhere, Huck, less not try that thing any more till we know Injun

Joe's not in there. It's too scary. Now, if we watch every night, we'll

be dead sure to see him go out, some time or other, and then we'll

snatch that box quicker'n lightning. "

" Well, I'm agreed. I'll watch the whole night long, and I'll do it

every night, too, if you'll do the other part of the job. "

" All right, I will. All you got to do is to trot up Hooper Street a

block and maow--and if I'm asleep, you throw some gravel at the window

and that'll fetch me. "

" Agreed, and good as wheat! "

" Now, Huck, the storm's over, and I'll go home. It'll begin to be

daylight in a couple of hours. You go back and watch that long, will

you? "

" I said I would, Tom, and I will. I'll ha'nt that tavern every night

for a year! I'll sleep all day and I'll stand watch all night. "

" That's all right. Now, where you going to sleep? "

" In Ben Rogers' hayloft. He lets me, and so does his pap's nigger man,

Uncle Jake. I tote water for Uncle Jake whenever he wants me to, and

any time I ask him he gives me a little something to eat if he can

spare it. That's a mighty good nigger, Tom. He likes me, becuz I don't

ever act as if I was above him. Sometime I've set right down and eat

WITH him. But you needn't tell that. A body's got to do things when

he's awful hungry he wouldn't want to do as a steady thing. "

" Well, if I don't want you in the daytime, I'll let you sleep. I won't

come bothering around. Any time you see something's up, in the night,

just skip right around and maow. "

CHAPTER XXIX

THE first thing Tom heard on Friday morning was a glad piece of news

--Judge Thatcher's family had come back to town the night before. Both

Injun Joe and the treasure sunk into secondary importance for a moment,

and Becky took the chief place in the boy's interest. He saw her and

they had an exhausting good time playing " hi-spy" and " gully-keeper"

with a crowd of their school-mates. The day was completed and crowned

in a peculiarly satisfactory way: Becky teased her mother to appoint

the next day for the long-promised and long-delayed picnic, and she

consented. The child's delight was boundless; and Tom's not more

moderate. The invitations were sent out before sunset, and straightway

the young folks of the village were thrown into a fever of preparation

and pleasurable anticipation. Tom's excitement enabled him to keep

awake until a pretty late hour, and he had good hopes of hearing Huck's

" maow, " and of having his treasure to astonish Becky and the picnickers

with, next day; but he was disappointed. No signal came that night.

Morning came, eventually, and by ten or eleven o'clock a giddy and

rollicking company were gathered at Judge Thatcher's, and everything

was ready for a start. It was not the custom for elderly people to mar

the picnics with their presence. The children were considered safe

enough under the wings of a few young ladies of eighteen and a few

young gentlemen of twenty-three or thereabouts. The old steam ferryboat

was chartered for the occasion; presently the gay throng filed up the

main street laden with provision-baskets. Sid was sick and had to miss

the fun; Mary remained at home to entertain him. The last thing Mrs.

Thatcher said to Becky, was:

" You'll not get back till late. Perhaps you'd better stay all night

with some of the girls that live near the ferry-landing, child. "

" Then I'll stay with Susy Harper, mamma. "

" Very well. And mind and behave yourself and don't be any trouble. "

Presently, as they tripped along, Tom said to Becky:

" Say--I'll tell you what we'll do. 'Stead of going to Joe Harper's

we'll climb right up the hill and stop at the Widow Douglas'. She'll

have ice-cream! She has it most every day--dead loads of it. And she'll

be awful glad to have us. "

" Oh, that will be fun! "

Then Becky reflected a moment and said:

" But what will mamma say? "

" How'll she ever know? "

The girl turned the idea over in her mind, and said reluctantly:

" I reckon it's wrong--but--"

" But shucks! Your mother won't know, and so what's the harm? All she

wants is that you'll be safe; and I bet you she'd 'a' said go there if

she'd 'a' thought of it. I know she would! "

The Widow Douglas' splendid hospitality was a tempting bait. It and

Tom's persuasions presently carried the day. So it was decided to say

nothing anybody about the night's programme. Presently it occurred to

Tom that maybe Huck might come this very night and give the signal. The

thought took a deal of the spirit out of his anticipations. Still he

could not bear to give up the fun at Widow Douglas'. And why should he

give it up, he reasoned--the signal did not come the night before, so

why should it be any more likely to come to-night? The sure fun of the

evening outweighed the uncertain treasure; and, boy-like, he determined

to yield to the stronger inclination and not allow himself to think of

the box of money another time that day.

Three miles below town the ferryboat stopped at the mouth of a woody

hollow and tied up. The crowd swarmed ashore and soon the forest

distances and craggy heights echoed far and near with shoutings and

laughter. All the different ways of getting hot and tired were gone

through with, and by-and-by the rovers straggled back to camp fortified

with responsible appetites, and then the destruction of the good things

began. After the feast there was a refreshing season of rest and chat

in the shade of spreading oaks. By-and-by somebody shouted:

" Who's ready for the cave? "

Everybody was. Bundles of candles were procured, and straightway there

was a general scamper up the hill. The mouth of the cave was up the

hillside--an opening shaped like a letter A. Its massive oaken door

stood unbarred. Within was a small chamber, chilly as an ice-house, and

walled by Nature with solid limestone that was dewy with a cold sweat.

It was romantic and mysterious to stand here in the deep gloom and look

out upon the green valley shining in the sun. But the impressiveness of

the situation quickly wore off, and the romping began again. The moment

a candle was lighted there was a general rush upon the owner of it; a

struggle and a gallant defence followed, but the candle was soon

knocked down or blown out, and then there was a glad clamor of laughter

and a new chase. But all things have an end. By-and-by the procession

went filing down the steep descent of the main avenue, the flickering

rank of lights dimly revealing the lofty walls of rock almost to their

point of junction sixty feet overhead. This main avenue was not more

than eight or ten feet wide. Every few steps other lofty and still

narrower crevices branched from it on either hand--for McDougal's cave

was but a vast labyrinth of crooked aisles that ran into each other and

out again and led nowhere. It was said that one might wander days and

nights together through its intricate tangle of rifts and chasms, and

never find the end of the cave; and that he might go down, and down,

and still down, into the earth, and it was just the same--labyrinth

under labyrinth, and no end to any of them. No man " knew" the cave.

That was an impossible thing. Most of the young men knew a portion of

it, and it was not customary to venture much beyond this known portion.

Tom Sawyer knew as much of the cave as any one.

The procession moved along the main avenue some three-quarters of a

mile, and then groups and couples began to slip aside into branch

avenues, fly along the dismal corridors, and take each other by

surprise at points where the corridors joined again. Parties were able

to elude each other for the space of half an hour without going beyond

the " known" ground.

By-and-by, one group after another came straggling back to the mouth

of the cave, panting, hilarious, smeared from head to foot with tallow

drippings, daubed with clay, and entirely delighted with the success of

the day. Then they were astonished to find that they had been taking no

note of time and that night was about at hand. The clanging bell had

been calling for half an hour. However, this sort of close to the day's

adventures was romantic and therefore satisfactory. When the ferryboat

with her wild freight pushed into the stream, nobody cared sixpence for

the wasted time but the captain of the craft.

Huck was already upon his watch when the ferryboat's lights went

glinting past the wharf. He heard no noise on board, for the young

people were as subdued and still as people usually are who are nearly

tired to death. He wondered what boat it was, and why she did not stop

at the wharf--and then he dropped her out of his mind and put his

attention upon his business. The night was growing cloudy and dark. Ten

o'clock came, and the noise of vehicles ceased, scattered lights began

to wink out, all straggling foot-passengers disappeared, the village

betook itself to its slumbers and left the small watcher alone with the

silence and the ghosts. Eleven o'clock came, and the tavern lights were

put out; darkness everywhere, now. Huck waited what seemed a weary long

time, but nothing happened. His faith was weakening. Was there any use?

Was there really any use? Why not give it up and turn in?

A noise fell upon his ear. He was all attention in an instant. The

alley door closed softly. He sprang to the corner of the brick store.

The next moment two men brushed by him, and one seemed to have

something under his arm. It must be that box! So they were going to

remove the treasure. Why call Tom now? It would be absurd--the men

would get away with the box and never be found again. No, he would

stick to their wake and follow them; he would trust to the darkness for

security from discovery. So communing with himself, Huck stepped out

and glided along behind the men, cat-like, with bare feet, allowing

them to keep just far enough ahead not to be invisible.

They moved up the river street three blocks, then turned to the left

up a cross-street. They went straight ahead, then, until they came to

the path that led up Cardiff Hill; this they took. They passed by the

old Welshman's house, half-way up the hill, without hesitating, and

still climbed upward. Good, thought Huck, they will bury it in the old

quarry. But they never stopped at the quarry. They passed on, up the

summit. They plunged into the narrow path between the tall sumach

bushes, and were at once hidden in the gloom. Huck closed up and

shortened his distance, now, for they would never be able to see him.

He trotted along awhile; then slackened his pace, fearing he was

gaining too fast; moved on a piece, then stopped altogether; listened;

no sound; none, save that he seemed to hear the beating of his own

heart. The hooting of an owl came over the hill--ominous sound! But no

footsteps. Heavens, was everything lost! He was about to spring with

winged feet, when a man cleared his throat not four feet from him!

Huck's heart shot into his throat, but he swallowed it again; and then

he stood there shaking as if a dozen agues had taken charge of him at

once, and so weak that he thought he must surely fall to the ground. He

knew where he was. He knew he was within five steps of the stile

leading into Widow Douglas' grounds. Very well, he thought, let them

bury it there; it won't be hard to find.

Now there was a voice--a very low voice--Injun Joe's:

" Damn her, maybe she's got company--there's lights, late as it is. "

" I can't see any. "

This was that stranger's voice--the stranger of the haunted house. A

deadly chill went to Huck's heart--this, then, was the " revenge" job!

His thought was, to fly. Then he remembered that the Widow Douglas had

been kind to him more than once, and maybe these men were going to

murder her. He wished he dared venture to warn her; but he knew he

didn't dare--they might come and catch him. He thought all this and

more in the moment that elapsed between the stranger's remark and Injun

Joe's next--which was--

" Because the bush is in your way. Now--this way--now you see, don't

you? "

" Yes. Well, there IS company there, I reckon. Better give it up. "

" Give it up, and I just leaving this country forever! Give it up and

maybe never have another chance. I tell you again, as I've told you

before, I don't care for her swag--you may have it. But her husband was

rough on me--many times he was rough on me--and mainly he was the

justice of the peace that jugged me for a vagrant. And that ain't all.

It ain't a millionth part of it! He had me HORSEWHIPPED! --horsewhipped

in front of the jail, like a nigger! --with all the town looking on!

HORSEWHIPPED! --do you understand? He took advantage of me and died. But

I'll take it out of HER. "

" Oh, don't kill her! Don't do that! "

" Kill? Who said anything about killing? I would kill HIM if he was

here; but not her. When you want to get revenge on a woman you don't

kill her--bosh! you go for her looks. You slit her nostrils--you notch

her ears like a sow! "

" By God, that's--"

" Keep your opinion to yourself! It will be safest for you. I'll tie

her to the bed. If she bleeds to death, is that my fault? I'll not cry,

if she does. My friend, you'll help me in this thing--for MY sake

--that's why you're here--I mightn't be able alone. If you flinch, I'll

kill you. Do you understand that? And if I have to kill you, I'll kill

her--and then I reckon nobody'll ever know much about who done this

business. "

" Well, if it's got to be done, let's get at it. The quicker the

better--I'm all in a shiver. "

" Do it NOW? And company there? Look here--I'll get suspicious of you,

first thing you know. No--we'll wait till the lights are out--there's

no hurry. "