The Adventures of Tom Sawyer : Chapter 29

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Episode Transcript

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Chapter twenty nine, Huck Saves theWidow. The first thing Tom heard on
Friday morning was a glad piece ofnews Judge Thatcher's family had come back to
town the night before. Both injand Joe and the treasures sank into secondary
importance for a moment, and Beckytook the chief place in the boy's interest.

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He saw her, and they hadan exhausting good time playing high spy
and gully keeper with a crowd oftheir schoolmates. 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 longdelayed picnic, and she consented. The
child's delight was boundless, and Tom'snot more moderate. The invitations were sent

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out before sunset, and straightway theyoung 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, andhe had good hopes of hearing Huck's maw
and of having his treasure to astonishBecky and the picnickers with next day,
But he was disappointed. No signalcame that night. Morning came eventually,

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and by ten or eleven o'clock agiddy and rollicking company were gathered at Judge
Thatcher's and everything was ready for astart. It was not the custom for
elderly people to mar picnics with theirpresents. The children were considered safe enough
under the wings of a few youngladies of eighteen and a few young gentlemen
of twenty three or thereabouts. Theold steam ferry boat was chartered for the

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occasion. Presently, the gay throngfiled up the main street laden with provision
baskets. Sid was sick and hadto miss the fun. Mary remained at
home to entertain him. The lastthing Missus Thatcher said to Becky was you'll
not get back till late. Perhapsyou'd better stay all night with some of
the girls that lived near the fairyLanding. Child then asked with Susie Harper,

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Mamma, very well, and mindthem behave yourself and don't be any
trouble. Presently, as they trippedalong, Tom said to Becky, say,
I'll tell you what we'll do.Instead of going to Joe Harper's,
we'll climb right up the hill andstop at the Widow Douglas's. She'll have
ice cream, she has it mostevery day, dead loads of it,

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and she'll be awful glad to haveus. Oh, that will be fun.
Then Becky reflected a moment and said, but what will mamma say?
Well, how she'll ever know?The girl turned the idea over in her
mind and said, reluctantly, Ireckon, it's wrong, But but shucks,
your mother won't know, and sowhat's the harm. All she wants

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is that you'll be safe. AndI bet you she'd had said go there,
if she'd have thought about it,I know she would. The Widow
Douglas's splendid hospitality was a tempting baitif and Tom's persuasions presently carried the day,
so it was decided to say nothingto anybody about the night its program.
Presently, it occurred to Tom thatmaybe Huck might come in this very

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night and give the signal. Thethought took a deal of the spirit out
of his anticipation. Still, hecould not bear to give up the fun
at Widow Douglas's. And why shouldhe give it up? He reasoned?
The signal did not come the nightbefore so why should it be any more
likely to come tonight? The surefun of the evening outweighed the uncertain treasure,
and boylike he determined to yield tothe stronger inclination and not allow himself

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to think of the box of moneyanother time. That day, three miles
below town, the ferryboat stopped atthe mouth of the woody hollow and tied
up. The crowd swarmed ashore,and soon the forest distances and craggy heights
echoed far and near with shoutings andlaughter. All the different ways of getting
hot and tired were gone through with, and by and by the rovers straggled

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back to camp, fortified with responsibleappetites, and then the destruction of the
good things began. After the feast, there was a refreshing season of rest,
and in the shade of spreading oaks, and by and by somebody shouted,
Who's ready for the cave? Everybodywas. Bundles of candles were procured,
and straightway there was a general scamperup the hill. The mouth of

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the cave was up the hillside anopening shaped like a letter a. Its
massive oaken door stood unbarred. Withinwas a small chamber chilly as an ice
house, and walled by nature withsolid limestone that was dewy with a cold
sweat. It was romantic and mysteriousto stand here in the deep gloom and
look out upon the green valley shiningin the sun. But the impressiveness of

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the situation quickly wore off, andthe romping began again. The moment a
candle was lighted, there was ageneral rush upon the owner of it.
A struggle and a gallant defense followed, but the candle was soon knocked down
or blown out, and then therewas a glad clamor of laughter in a
new chase. But all things havean end. By and by the procession

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went filing down the steep descent ofthe main avenue, the flickering rank of
lights dimly revealing the lofty walls ofrock almost to their point of junction.
Sixty feet overhead. This main avenuewas not more than eight or ten feet
wide. Every few steps other loftyand still narrower crevices branched from it on
either hand. For McDougall's cave wasbut a vast labyrinth of crooked aisles that

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ran into each other and out again, and led nowhere. It was said
that one might wander days and nightstogether through its intricate tangle of rifts and
chasms, and never find the endof the cave, and that he might
go down and down and still downinto the earth, and it was just
the same labyrinth underneath labyrinth, andno end to any of them. No

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man knew the cave. That wasan 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 Sawyerknew as much of the cave as any
one. The procession moved along themain avenue some three quarters of a mile.
Then groups and couples began to slipaside into branch avenues, fly along

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the dismal corridors, and take eachother by surprise. At points where the
corridors joined again, parties were ableto elude each other for the space of
half an hour without going beyond theknown ground. By and by, one
group after another came straggling back tothe mouth of the cave, panting,
hilarious smeared from head to foot withtallow drippings, daubed with clay, and

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entirely delighted with the success of theday. Then they were astonished to find
that they had been taking no noteof time, and that night was about
at hand. The clanging bell hadbeen calling for half an hour. However,
this sort of close to the day'sadventures was romantic and therefore satisfactory.
When the ferry boat with her wildfreight, pushed into the stream, nobody

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cared sixpence for the wasted time.But the captain of the craft, Huck,
was already upon his watch. Whenthe ferry boat's lights went glinting past
the wharf, He heard no noiseon board, for the young people were
as subdued and still as people usuallyare who were nearly tired to death.
He wondered what boat it was,and why she did not stop at the

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wharf, And then he dropped herout of his mind and put his attention
upon his business. The night wasgrowing cloudy and dark. Ten o'clock came,
and the noise of vehicles ceased.Scattered lights began to wink out,
All straggling foot passengers disappeared. Thevillage betook itself to its slumbers, and
left the small watcher alone with thesilence and the ghosts. Eleven o'clock came

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and the tavern lights were put out. Darkness everywhere. Now Huck waited what
seemed a weary long time, butnothing happened. His faith was weakening.
Was there any use? Was therereally any use? Why not give it
up and turn in? A noisefell upon his ear. He was all

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attention. In an instant. Thealley 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 underhis arm. It must be that
box, So they were going toremove the treasurer. Why call Tom now,
it would be absurd. The menwould get away with a box and
never be found again. No,he would stick to their wake and follow

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them. He would trust to thedarkness for security from discovery. So,
communing with himself, Huck stepped outand glided along behind the men catlike,
with bare feet, allowing them tokeep just far enough ahead not to be
invisible. They moved up the RiverStreet three blocks, then turned to the
left up across street. They wentstraight ahead then until they came to the

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path that led up Cardiff Hill.This they took. They passed by the
old Welshman's house halfway up the hillwithout hesitating, and still climbed upward.
Good thought Huck. They were buriedin the old quarry. But they never
stopped at the quarry. They passedon up the summit. They plunged into
the narrow path between the tall sumacbushes, and were at once hidden in

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the gloom. Hut closed up andshortened his distance now, for they would
never be able to see him.He trotted along a while, then slackened
his pace, fearing he was gainingtoo 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 from over

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the hill, ominous sound, butno footsteps. Heavens, was everything lost.
He was about to spring with wingedfeet when a man cleared his throat
not four feet from him. Huck'sheart shot into his throat, but he
swallowed it again. And then hestood there, shaking as if a dozen
eggus had taken charge of him atonce, and so weak that he thought

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he must surely fall to the ground. He knew where he was, He
knew he was within five steps ofthe stile leading into Widow Douglas's grounds.
Very well, he thought, letthem bury it there. It won't be
hard to find. Now there wasa voice, a very low voice injun
Joe's damn her. Maybe she's gotcompany. There's lights late as it is,

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I can't see any This was thatstranger's voice, the stranger of the
haunted house. A deadly chill wentto Huck's heart. This then, was
the revenge job. His thought wasto fly. Then he remembered that the
widow Douglas had been kind to himmore than once, and maybe these men
were going to murder her. Hewished he dared venture to warn her,

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but he knew he didn't dare Theymight come and catch him. He thought
all this and more in the momentthat the lapse between the stranger's remark and
Injun Joe's next, which was becausethe bush is in your way now this
way, now you see, don'tyou? Yes, well, there is
company there, and I reckon gotto give it up, give it up,
and I just leaving this country forever, give it up and maybe never

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have another chance. I tell youagain, 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 thepiece that jugged me for a vagrant.
And that ain't all. It ain'ta millionth part of it. He had
me horsewhipped, horsewhipped in front ofthe jail like a nigger with all the

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town looking on, horsewhipped. Doyou understand? He took advantage of me
and died. But I'll take itout of her. Oh, don't kill
her. Don't do that. Killwho said anything about killing? I would
kill him if he were here,but not her. When you want to
get revenge on a woman, youdon't kill her, boss. You go

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for her looks. You slid hernostrils, You notch your ears like a
sow. By God, that's keepyour opinion to yourself. It'll be safest
for you. I'll tie her tothe bed if she bleeds to death.
Is that my fault? I'll notcry if she does. My friend,
you'll help in this thing for mysake. That's why you're here. I
mightn't be able to alone. Ifyou, I'll kill you. Do you

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understand that? And if I haveto kill you, I'll kill her and
then I reckon. Nobody'll ever knowmuch 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 ashiver. Do it now, and company
there, look here, I'll getsuspicious of you first thing. You know.
No, we'll wait till the lightsare out. There's no hurry.

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Huck felt that a silence was goingto ensue a thing still more awful than
any amount of murderous talk. Sohe held his breath and stepped gingerly back,
planted his foot carefully and firmly,After balancing one legged in a precarious
way, and almost toppling over,first on one side and then on the
other. He took another step backwith the same elaboration and the same risks,

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Then another and another, and atwig snapped under his foot. His
breath stopped, and he listened.There was no sound. The stillness was
perfect. Gratitude was measureless. Nowhe turned in his tracks between the walls
of sumac bushes, turned himself ascarefully as if he were a ship,

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and then stepped quickly but cautiously along. When he emerged at the quarry.
He felt secure, and so hepicked up his nimble heels and flew down
down. He's sped till he reachedthe Welshman's. He banged at the door,
and presently the heads of the oldman and his two stalwart sons were
thrust from the windows. What's therow there? Who's banging? What do

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you want? Let me in quick, I'll tell everything. Why who are
you Huckleberry Finn? Quick? Letme in, Huckleberry Finn. Indeed,
it ain't a name to open manydoors, I judge, but let him
in, lads, let's see what'sthe trouble. Please don't ever tell I
told you were Huck's first words whenhe got in. Please don't. I'd
be killed, sure, but thewidow's been good friends to me sometimes,

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and I want to tell. Iwill tell, if you'll promise you won't
ever say it was me by George. He has got something to tell,
or he wouldn't act, exclaimed theold man. Out with it, and
nobody here'll ever tell. Lad.Three minutes later, the old man and
his sons, well armed, wereup the hill and just entering the Sumac
path on tiptoe, their weapons intheir hands. Huck accompanied them no farther.

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He hid behind a great boulder andfell to listening. There was a
lagging, anxious silence, and thenall of a sudden there was an explosion
of firearms and a cry. Huckwaited for no particulars. He sprang away
and sped down the hill as fastas his legs could carry him. End
of Chapter twenty nine.