The Adventures of Tom Sawyer : Chapter 30

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Episode Transcript

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Chapter thirty, Tom and Becky inthe cave as the earliest suspicion of Dawn
appeared. On Sunday morning, Huckcame groping up the hill and rapped gently
at the old Welshman's door. Theinmates were asleep, but it was a
sleep that was set on a hairtrigger on account of the exciting episode of
the night. A call came froma window. Who's there, Huck's scared

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voice answered in a low tone,Please let me in. It's only Huck
Finn. It's a name that canopen this door night or day. Lad
and welcome. These were strange wordsto the vagabond boy's ears, and the
pleasantest he had ever heard. Hecould not recollect that the closing word had
ever been applied in his case.Before the door was quickly unlocked and he

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entered. Huc was given a seat, and the old man and his brace
of tall suns speedily dressed themselves.Now, my boy, I hope you're
good and hungry, because breakfast willbe ready as soon as the sun's up,
and we'll have a piping hot oneto make yourself easy about that.
I and the boys hoped you'd turnup and stop here last night. I
was awful scared, said Huck,and I run. I took out when

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the pistols went off, and Ididn't stop for three miles. I've come
now because I wanted to know aboutit, you know. And I come
before daylight because I didn't want torun across them devils, even if they
was dead. Well, poor Chap, you do look as if you'd had
a hard night of it. Butthere's a bed here for you when you've
had your breakfast. No, theyain't dead, lad, We're sorry enough

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for that, you see. Weknew right word to put our hands on
them, by your description. Sowe crept along on tiptoe till we got
within fifteen feet of them. Darkas a seller, that Sumac path was,
and just then I found I wasgoing to sneeze. It was the
meanest kind of luck. I triedto keep it back, but no use.
Twas bound to come, and itdid come. I was in the

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lead with my epistol raised, andwhen the sneeze started, those scoundrels are
rustling to get out of the path. I sung out, fire boys and
blazed away at the place where therustling was. So did the boys,
but they were off in a jiffy, those villains, and we after them
down through the woods. I judgewe never touched them. They fired a
shot apiece as they started, buttheir bullets whizzed by and didn't do us

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any harm. As soon as welost the sound of their feet, we
quit chason and went down and stirredup the constables. They got a posse
together and went off to guard theriver bank. And as soon as it
is light, the sheriff and agang are going to beat up the woods.
My boys will be with them presently. I wish we had some sort
of description of those rascals. Itwould help a good deal. But you

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couldn't see what they were like inthe dark, lad, I suppose,
Oh yes, I saw them downtownand followed them splendid. Describe them.
Describe them, my boy. Oneis the old deaf and dumb spaniard that's
been around here once or twice,and t'ther's a mean looking ragged That's enough,
lad, We know the men happenedon them in the woods back of

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these one day, and they slunkaway. Off with your boys and tell
the sheriff get your breakfast tomorrow morning. The Welshman's sons departed at once.
As they were leaving the room,Huck sprang up and exclaimed, Oh,
please, don't tell anybody it wasme that blowed on him. Oh please,
it's all right if you say it, Huck, but you ought to
have the credit of what you did. Oh no, no, please,

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please don't tell. When the youngmen were gone, the old Welshman said,
they won't tell, and I won't. But why don't you want it
known? Huck would not explain furtherthan to say that he already knew too
much about one of those men,and would not have the man know that
he knew anything against him, forthe whole world he would be killed for
knowing it. Sure, the oldman promised secrecy once more, and said,

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how did you come to follow thesefellows? Lad? Were they looking
suspicious? Huck was silent while heframed a duly cautious reply, and then
he said, well, you see, I'm a kind of a hard lot.
Least everybody says so. And Idon't see nothing again it and sometimes
I can't sleep much on accounts ofthinking about it and sort of trying to

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strike out a new way of doingThat was the way it was last night
I couldn't sleep, and so I'dcome along up street bout midnight and turning
it all over. And when Igot to the old shackly brick store by
the Temperance tavern, I backed upagain the wall to have another think.
Well. Just then along comes thesetwo chaps slipping along close by me.
Was something under their arm, andI reckoned they'd stole it. One was

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a smokin' and t'other one wanted alight, so they stopped right before me,
and the cigars lit up their faces, and I see that the big
one was the deaf and dumb spaniardby his white whiskers and the patch on
his eye, and t'other one wasa rusty, ragged looking devil. Could
you see the rags by the lightof the cigars. This staggered Hut for
a moment. Then he said,well, I don't know, but somehow

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it seems as if I did.Then they went on and you followed them.
Yes, that was it. Iwanted to see what was up.
They sneaked along, so I doggedhim to the witer's style and stood in
the dark and heard the ragged onebeg for the wider and the Spaniard swear
he'd spile her looks, just asI told you when you're too what the

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deaf and dumb man said all that, Huck had made another terrible mistake.
He was trying his best to keepthe old man from getting the faintest hint
of who the Spaniard might be,and yet his tongue seemed determined to get
him into trouble. In spite ofall he could do. He made several
efforts to creep out of his scrape, but the old Man's eye was upon
him, and he made blunder afterblunder. Presently, the Welshman said,

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my boy, don't be afraid ofme. I wouldn't hurt a hair of
your head for all the world.No, I'd protect you, I'll I'd
protect you. This spaniard is notdeaf and dumb. You've let that slip
without intending it. You can't coverthat up. Now. You know something
about that Spaniard that you want tokeep dark. Now trust me, tell

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me what it is, and trustme I won't betray you. Huck looked
into the old man's honest eyes amoment, then bent over and whispered in
his ear. Tain't to Spaniard,it's injun, Joe. The Welshman almost
jumped out of his chair in amoment. He said, it's all plain
enough now. When you talked aboutnotching ears and the slitting noses, I

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judged that was your own embellishment,because white men don't take that sort of
revenge. But an injun that's adifferent matter altogether. During breakfast, the
talk went on, and in thecourse of it, the old man said
that the last thing which he andhis sons had done before going to bed
was to get a lantern and examinethe stile and its vicinity for marks of

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blood. They found none, butcaptured a bulky bundle of of what If
the words had been lightning, theycould not have leaped with a more stunning
suddenness from Huck's blanched lips. Hiseyes were staring wide now, and his
breath suspended, waiting for the answer. The Welshman started stared in return three
seconds, five seconds ten, thenreplied, of Burglar's tools, Why what's

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the matter with you? Huck sankback, panting gently but deeply, unutterably
grateful. The Welshman eyed him gravely, curiously, and presently said, yes,
burglar's tools. That appears to relieveyou a good deal. But what
did give you that turn? Whatwere you expecting we'd found? Huck was

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in a close place. The inquiringeye was upon him. He would have
given anything for material for a plausibleanswer. Nothing suggested itself. Ther inquiring
eye was boring deeper and deeper.A senseless reply offered, there was no
time to weigh it, so ata venture, he uttered it feebly Sunday
school books. Maybe poor Huck wastoo distressed to smile. But the old

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man laughed loud and joyously, shookup the details of his anatomy from head
to foot, and ended by sayingthat such a laugh was money in a
man's pocket, because it cut downon the doctor's bills, like everything.
Then he added, poor old chap, you're white and jaded. You ain't
well a bit, no wonder.You're a little flighty and off your balance.
But you'll come out of it,rest and sleep. We'll catch you

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up, all right, I hope. Huck was irritated to think he had
been such a goose and betrayed sucha suspicious excitement, for he had dropped
the idea that the parcel brought fromthe tavern was the treasure. As soon
as he had heard the talk atthe Winter's Style, he had only thought
it was not the treasure. However, he had not known that it wasn't,

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and so the suggestion of a capturedbundle was too much for his self
possession. But on the whole hefelt glad the little episode had happened,
for now he knew beyond all questionthat that bundle was not the bundle,
and so his mind was at restand exceedingly comfortable. In fact, everything
seemed to be drifting just in theright direction. Now the treasurer must be

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still in number two. The menwould be captured in jail that day,
and he and Tom could seize thegold at night without any trouble or any
fear of interruption. Just as breakfastwas completed, there was a knock at
the door. Huck jumped for ahiding place, for he had no mind
to be connected even remotely with thelate event. The Welshman admitted several ladies

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and gentlemen, among them the widowDouglas, and noticed that groups of citizens
were climbing up the hill to stareat the stile. So the news had
spread. The Welshman had to tellthe story of the night to the visitors.
The widow's gratitude for her preservation wasoutspoken. Don't say a word about
it, madam. There's another thatyou're more beholden to than you are to

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me and my boys. Maybe,but he don't allow me to tell his
name. We wouldn't have been therebut for him. Of course, this
excited a curiosity so vast that italmost belittled the main matter. But the
Welshman allowed it to eat into thevitals of his visitors, and through them
be transmitted to the whole town,For he refused to part with his secret.

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When all else had been learned.The widow said, I went to
sleep, reading in bed, andslept straight through all that noise. Why
didn't you come and wake me?We judged it weren't worth while Those fellows
weren't likely to come again. Theyhadn't many tools left to work with,
and what was the use of wakingyou up and scaring you to death.

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My three negro men stood guard atyour house all the rest of the night.
They've just come back. More visitorscame, and the story had to
be told, and retold for acouple of hours more. There was no
sabbath school during day school vacation,but everybody was early at church. The
stirring event was well canvassed. Newscame that not a sign of the two

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villains had been yet discovered. Whenthe sermon was finished, Judge Thatcher's wife
dropped alongside of Missus Harper as shemoved down the aisle with a crowd,
and said, is my Becky goingto sleep all day? I just expected
she would be tired to death.You're Becky, yes, with a startled
look. Didn't she stay with youlast night? Why no? Missus Thatcher

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turned pale and sank into a pew, just as Aunt Polly, talking briskly
with a friend passed by. AuntPolly said, good morning, Missus Thatcher,
Good morning, Missus Harper. I'vegot a boy that's turned up missing.
I reckon my Tom stayed at yourhouse last night, one of you,
and now he's afraid to come tochurch. I've got to settle with
him. Missus Thatcher shook her headfeebly and turned paler than ever. He

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didn't stay with us, said MissusHarper, beginning to look uneasy and marked
anxiety came into Aunt Polly's face.Joe Harper, have you seen my Tom
this morning? Know em? Whendid you see him last? Joe tried
to remember, but was not surehe could say. The people had stopped
moving out of church, Whispers passedalong, and aboding uneasiness took possession of

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every countenance. Children were anxiously questioned, and young teachers. They all said
they had not noticed whether Tom andBecky were on board the ferryboat on the
homeward trip. It was dark,no one thought of inquiring if anyone was
missing. One young man finally blurtedout his fear that they were still in
the cave. Missus Thatcher swooned away. Aunt Polly fell to crying and wringing

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her hands. The alarms swept fromlip to lip, from group to group,
from street to street, and withinfive minutes the bells were wildly clanging,
and the whole town was up.The card Off Hill episode sank into
instant insignificance. The burglars were forgotten, horses were saddled, skiffs were manned,
the ferryboat ordered out, and beforethe horror was half an hour old,

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two hundred men were pouring down highroad and river toward the cave.
All the long afternoon the village seemedempty and dead. Many women visited Aunt
Polly and Missus Thatcher and tried tocomfort them. They cried with them too,
and that was still better than words. All the tedious night the town
waited for news, But when themorning dawned at last, all the word

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that came was send more candles andsend food. Missuscher was almost crazed,
and Aunt Polly also judge. Thatchersent messages of hope and encouragement from the
cave, but they conveyed no realcheer. The old Welshman came home toward
daylight, spattered with candle grease,smeared with clay, and almost worn out.

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He found Huck still in the bedthat had been provided for him,
and delirious with fever. The physicianswere all at the cave, so the
widow Douglas came and took charge ofthe patient. She said she would do
her best by him, because whetherhe was good, bad, or indifferent,
he was the Lord's and nothing thatwas the lord's was a thing to
be neglected. The Welshman said Huckhad good spots in him, and the

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widow said, you can depend onit. That's the Lord's mark. He
don't leave it off. He neverdoes, puts it somewhere on every creature
that comes from his hands. Earlyin the forenoon, parties of jaded men
began to straggle into the village,but the strongest of the citizens continued searching.
All the news that could be gainedwas that remotenesses of the cavern were

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being ransacked that had never been visitedbefore, that every corner and crevice was
going to be thoroughly searched, Thatwherever one wandered through the maze of passages,
lights were to be seen flitting hitherand thither in the distance, and
shoutings and pistol shots sent their hollowreverberations to the ear. Down the Somber
aisles. In one place, farfrom the section usually traversed by tourists,

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the names Becky and Tom had beenfound traced upon the rocky wall with candlesmoke,
and near at hand a grease soiledbit of ribbon. Missus Thatcher recognized
the ribbon and cried over it.She said it was the last relic she
would ever have of her child,and that no other memorial of her could
ever be so precious, because thisone parted latest from the living body before

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the awful death came. Some saidthat now and then in the cave,
a far away speck of light wouldglimmer, and then a glorious shout would
burst forth, and a score ofmen go trooping down the echoing aisle,
and then a sickening disappointment always followed. The children were not there. It
was only a searcher's light. Threedreadful days and nights dragged their tedious hours

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along, and the village sank intoa hopeless stupor. No one had heart
for anything. The accidental discovery justmade that the proprietor of the Temperance Tavern
kept liquor on his premises, scarcelyfluttered the public pulse tremendous as the fact
was. In a lucid interval,Huk feebly led up to the subject of

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taverns and finally asked, dimly,dreading the worst, if anything had been
discovered at the Temperance Tavern since hehad been ill. Yes, said the
widow. Huk started up in bed, wild eyed. What what was it?
Liquor? And the place has beenshut up lie down, child,
What a turn you did give me? Only tell me just one thing,

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only just one please? Was itTom Sawyer that found it? The widow
burst into tears. Hush, hush, child, hush, I've told you
before, you must not talk.You are very, very sick. Then
nothing but liquor had been found.There would have been a great pow wow
if it had been the gold.So the treasure was gone, forever,

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gone forever. But what could shebe crying about? Curious that she should
cry. These thoughts work their dimway through Huck's mind, and under the
weariness they gave him, he fellasleep. The widow said to herself,
there he's asleep, poor wreck TomSawyer find it. Pity, but somebody
could find Tom Sawyer. Ah,there ain't many left now that's got hope

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enough or strength enough either to goon searching. End of chapter thirty