The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: Chapter 13-14-15

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
visit LibriVox dot org. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by
Mark Twain, Chapter thirteen, The pirate crew set sail. Tom's
mind was made up now. He was gloomy and desperate.

(00:23):
He was a forsaken, friendless boy, he said. Nobody loved him.
When they found out what they had driven him to,
perhaps they would be sorry. He had tried to do
right and get along, but they would not let him.
Since nothing would do them but to get rid of him.
Let it be so, and let them blame him for
the consequences. Why shouldn't they What right had the friendless

(00:44):
to complain? Yes, they had forced him to it. At last,
he would lead a life of crime. There was no choice.
By this time he was far down Meadow Lane, and
the bell for school to take up tingled faintly upon
his ear. He sobbed now to think he should never
never hear that old, familiar sound any more. It was

(01:05):
very hard, but it was forced on him, since he
was driven out into the cold world. He must submit,
But he forgave them. Then the sobs came thick and fast.
Just at this point he met his soul's sworn comrade
Joe Harper, hard eyed, and with evidently a great and
dismal purpose in his heart. Plainly, here were two souls

(01:28):
with but a single thought. Tom, wiping his eyes with
his sleeve, began to blubber out something about a resolution
to escape from hard usage and lack of sympathy at
home by roaming abroad into the great world, never to return,
and ended by hoping that Joe would not forget him.
But it transpired that this was a request which Joe
had just been going to make of Tom, and had

(01:50):
come to hunt him up for that purpose. His mother
had whipped him for drinking some cream which he had
never tasted and knew nothing about. It was plain that
she tired of him and wished him to go. If
she felt that way, There was nothing for him to
do but succumb. He hoped she would be happy and
never regret having driven her poor boy out into the

(02:11):
unfeeling world to suffer and die. As the two boys
walked sorrowing along, they made a new compact to stand
by each other and be brothers and never separate. Till
death relieved them of their troubles. Then they began to
lay their plans. Joe was for being a hermit and
living on crusts in a remote cave and dying some

(02:32):
time of cold and want and grief. But after listening
to Tom, he conceded that there were some conspicuous advantages
about a life of crime, and so he consented to
be a pirate. Three miles below Saint Petersburg, at a
point where the Mississippi River was a trifle over a
mile wide, there was a long, narrow wooded island with

(02:53):
a shallow bar at the head of it, and this
offered well as a rendezvous. It was not inhabited. It
lay far over towards the further shore, abreast a dense
and almost wholly unpeopled forest. So Jackson's Island was chosen.
Who were to be the subjects of their piracies was
a matter that did not occur to them. Then they
hunted up Huckleberry Finn, and he joined them promptly, for

(03:16):
all careers were won to him, he was indifferent. They
presently separated to meet at a lonely spot on the
river bank, two miles above the village. At the favorite hour,
which was midnight. There was a small log raft there
which they meant to capture. Each would bring hooks and
lines and such provision as he could steal in the
most dark and mysterious way, as became outlaws. And before

(03:38):
the afternoon was done, they had all managed to enjoy
the sweet glory of spreading the fact that pretty soon
the town would hear something. All who got this vague
hint were cautioned to be mum and wait. About midnight,
Tom arrived with a boiled ham and a few trifles,
and stopped in a dense undergrowth on a small bluff

(03:59):
overlooking the meeting place. It was starlight and very still.
The Mighty River lay like an ocean at rest. Tom
listened a moment, but no sound disturbed the quiet. Then
he gave a low, distinct whistle. It was answered from
under the bluff. Tom whistled twice more. These signals were
answered in the same way. Then a guarded voice said,

(04:20):
who goes there? Tom Sawyer, the Black Avenger of the
Spanish main name your names Huck Finn the Red Handed
and Joe Harper, the Terror of the Seas. Tom had
furnished these titles from his favorite literature, Tis well give
the countersign. Two hoarse whispers delivered the same awful word

(04:41):
simultaneously to the brooding night blood. Then Tom tumbled his
ham over the bluff and let himself down after it,
tearing both skin and clothes to some extent in the effort.
There was an easy, comfortable path along the shore under
the bluff, but it lacked the advantages of difficulty in
dinger so valued by a pirate. The Terror of the

(05:03):
Seas had brought a side of bacon, and had about
worn himself out with getting it there. Finn the Red
Handed had stolen the skillet and the quantity of half
cured leaf tobacco, and had also brought a few corn
cobs to make pipes with. But none of the pirates
smoked or chewed but himself. The Black Avenger of the
Spanish Maine, said it would never do to start without

(05:25):
some fire. That was a wise thought. Matches were hardly
known there in that day. They saw a fire smoldering
upon a great raft a hundred yards above, and they
went stealthily thither and helped themselves to a chunk. They
made an imposing adventure of it, saying hist every now
and then, and suddenly halting with finger on lip, moving
with hands on imaginary dagger hilts, and giving orders in

(05:47):
dismal whispers that if the foe stirred, to let him
have it to the hilt, because dead men tell no tales.
They knew well enough that the rafts men were all
down at the village, laying in store, are having a spree.
But still that was no excuse for their conducting this
thing in an unpiratical way. They shoved off presently, Tom

(06:08):
in command, Huck at the after oar, and Joe at
the foreward. Tom stood amidships and gloomy browed and with
folded arms, and gave his orders in a low, stern
whisper luff and bring her to the wind. Aye aye, sir, steady, steady, steady,
it is, sir. Let her go off a point point,

(06:29):
it is, sir. As the boy steadily and monopolously drove
the raft toward mid stream. It was no doubt understood
that these orders were given only for style, and were
not intended to mean anything. In particular, what sails she carrying, courses,
topsails and flying jib Sir, Send the ryals up, lay
out aloft there half a dozen of ye for top

(06:51):
mans tozzel lively. Now aye aye, sir, shake out that
mane to gallonzil sheets and braces. Now my hearties ay
aye sir, er heilam lee hard to port. Stand by
to meet her when she comes port port, Now man
with a will, steady, steady news, sir. The raft drew

(07:11):
beyond the middle of the river. The boys pointed her
head right and then lay on their oars. The river
was not high, so there was not more than a
two or three mile current. Hardly a word was said
during the next three quarters of an hour. Now the
raft was passing before the distant town. Two or three
glimmering lights showed where it lay, peacefully sleeping beyond the vague,

(07:33):
vast sweep of the star gemmed water. Unconscious of the
tremendous event that was happening. The Black Avengers stood still
with folded arms, looking his last upon the scene of
his former joys and his later sufferings, and wishing she
could see him now abroad on the wild sea, facing
peril and death, with dauntless heart, going to his doom

(07:56):
with a grim smile on his lips. It was but
a small rain on his imagination to remove Jackson's Island
beyond eyeshot of the village, And so he looked his
last with a broken and satisfied heart. The other pirates
were looking their last, too, and they all looked so
long that they came near letting the current drift them
out of the range of the island. But they discovered

(08:18):
the danger in time and made shift to avert it.
About two o'clock in the morning, the raft grounded on
the bar two hundred yards above the head of the island,
and they waded back and forth until they had landed
their freight. Part of the little raft's belongings consisted of
an old sail, and this they spread over a nook
in the bushes for a tent to shelter their provisions,

(08:39):
but they themselves would sleep in the open air in
good weather. As became outlaws, they built a fire against
the side of a great log twenty or thirty steps
within the somber depths of the forest, and then cooked
some bacon in the frying pan for supper, and used
up half of the corn pone stock they had brought.
It seemed glorious sport to be feasting in that wild

(09:00):
freeway in the virgin forest of an unexplored and uninhabited island,
far from the haunts of men, And they said they
never would return to civilization. The climbing fire lit up
their faces and threw its ruddy glare upon the pillared
tree trunks of their forest temple, and upon the varnished
foliage and festooning vines. When the last crisp slice of

(09:21):
bacon was gone and the last allowance of corn pone devoured,
the boys stretched themselves out in the grass, filled with contentment.
They could have found a cooler place, but they would
not deny themselves such a romantic feature as the roasting
camp fire. Ain't it gay, said Joe. It's nuts, said Tom.
What would the boys say if they could see us? Say, Well,

(09:44):
they'd just die to be here. Hey, Huckey, I reckon,
so said Huckleberry. Anyways, I'm suited. I don't want nothing
better than this. I don't ever get enough to eat generally,
and here they can't come and pick at a feller
and bully rag him. So it's just the life me,
said Tom. You don't have to get up mornings, and
you don't have to go to school. And wash and

(10:05):
all that blame foolishness. You see, a pirate don't have
to do anything, Joe when he's ashore, But a hermit
he has to be a praying considerable and then he
don't have any fun anyway, all by himself that way. Oh, yes,
that's so, said Joe. But I hadn't thought much about it.
You know, I had a good deal rather be a pirate.
Now that I've tried it, you see, he said, Tom.

(10:26):
People don't go much on hermits nowadays like they used
to in the old times. But a pirate's always respected.
And a hermit's got to sleep on the hardest place
he can find and put sackcloth and ashes on his head,
and stand out in the rain. And what does he
put sackcloth and ashes on his head for? Inquired, Huck?
I don't know, but they's got to do it. Hermit's

(10:47):
always due. You'd have to do that if he was
a hermit deurned. If I would said, Huck, well, what
would you do? I don't know, But I wouldn't do that. Why, Huck,
you'd have to how'd you get around it? Why? I
just wouldn't stand it. I'd run away, run away, Well,
you would be a nice old slouch of a hermit.

(11:08):
You'd be a disgrace. The red handed made no response,
being better employed. He had finished gouging out a cob,
and now he fitted a weed stem to it, loaded
it with tobacco, and was pressing a coal to the
charge and blowing a cloud of fragrant smoke. He was
in the full bloom of luxurious contentment. The other pirates
envied him this majestic vice and secretly resolved to acquire it.

(11:32):
Shortly presently, Hucks said, what does pirates have to do?
Tom said, Oh, they have just a bully time. Take
ships and burn them and get the money and buried
in awful places in their island where there's ghosts and
things to watch it, and kill everybody in the ships,
make em walk a plank, and they carry the women
to the island, said Joe. They don't kill the women, No,

(11:54):
assented Tom. They don't kill the women. They are too noble,
and the women's always beautiful too. And don't they wear
the bulliest clothes? Oh? No, all gold and silver and diamonds,
said Joe with enthusiasm, who said, Chuck, why the pirates?
Huck scanned his own clothing. Forlornly, I reckon, I ain't

(12:15):
dressed fittin for a pirate, said he, with a regretful
pathos in his voice. But I ain't got none of
but these the other boys told him the fine clothes
would come fast enough, after they should have begun their adventures.
They made him understand that his poor rags would do
to begin with, though it was customary for wealthy pirates
to start with a proper wardrobe. Gradually their talk died out,

(12:36):
and drowsiness began to steal upon the eyelids of the
little waifs. The pipe dropped from the fingers of the
red handed, and he slept the sleep of the conscience
free and the weary. The terror of the seas and
the black avenger of the Spanish main had more difficulty
in getting to sleep. They said their prayers inwardly and
lying down, since there was nobody there with authority to
make them kneel and recite aloud. In truth, they had

(12:59):
a mind not to say them at all, but they
were afraid to proceed to such lengths at that lest
they might call down a sudden and special thunderbolt from heaven.
Then at once they reached and hovered upon the imminent
verge of sleep. But an intruder came now that would
not down. It was conscience. They began to feel a

(13:20):
vague fear that they had been doing wrong to run away,
and next they thought of the stolen meat, and then
the real torture came. They tried to argue it away
by reminding conscience that they had purloined sweetmeats and apple
scores of times, but conscience was not to be appeased
by such thin plausibilities. It seemed to them in the
end that there was no getting around the stubborn fact

(13:42):
that taking sweetmeats was only hooking, while taking bacon and
hams and such valuables was plain simple stealing, and there
was a command against that and the Bible. So they
inwardly resolved that so long as they remained in the
business their pirateshes should not again be so with a
crime of stealing. Then conscience granted a truce, and these

(14:05):
curiously inconsistent pirates fell peacefully to sleep. End of Chapter thirteen.
Chapter fourteen, Happy Camp of the Freebooters. When Tom awoke
in the morning, he wondered where he was. He sat
up and rubbed his eyes and looked around. Then he comprehended.
It was the cool, gray dawn, and there was a

(14:25):
delicious sense of repose and peace, and the deep, pervading
calm and silence of the woods. Not a leaf stirred,
not a sound obtruded upon great nature's meditation. Beaded dewdrops
stood upon the leaves and grasses, A white layer of
ashes covered the fire, and a thin blue breath of
smoke rose straight into the air. Joe and Huck still slept,

(14:48):
now far away in the woods. A bird called another
answered Presently the hammering of a whitpecker was heard. Gradually,
the cool, dim gray of the morning whitened, and as gradually,
sounds multiplied, and life manifested itself. The marvel of nature,
shaking off sleep and going to work, unfolded itself to
the musing boy. A little green worm came crawling over

(15:10):
a dewy leaf, lifting two thirds of his body into
the air from time to time, and sniffing around, then
proceeding again. For he was measuring, Tom said, And when
the worm approached him of its own accord, he sat
as still as a stone, with his hopes rising and falling.
By turns as the creature still came toward him or
seemed inclined to go elsewhere. And when at last it

(15:33):
considered a painful moment with its curved body in the air,
and then came decisively down upon Tom's leg and began
joerning over him. His whole heart was glad, for that
meant that he was going to have a new suit
of clothes, without the shadow of a doubt, a gaudy,
piratical uniform. Now a procession of ants appeared from nowhere

(15:54):
in particular, and went about their labors. One struggled manfully
by with a dead spidered fire of times as big
as itself in its arms, and lugged it straight up
a tree trunk. A brown spotted ladybug climbed the dizzy
height of a grass blade, and Tom bent down close
to it and said, lady bug, lady bug, fly away home.

(16:14):
Your house is on fire, your children's alone, And she
took wing and went off to see about it, which
did not surprise the boy, for he knew of old
that this insect was credulous about conflagrations, and he had
practiced upon its simplicity more than once. A tumble bug
came next, heaving sturdily at its ball, and Tom touched
the creature to see it shut its legs against its

(16:37):
body and pretend to be dead. The birds were fairly
rioting by this time. A cat bird, the northern mocker,
lit in a tree over Tom's head and trilled out
her imitations of her neighbors in a rapture of enjoyment.
Then a shrill jay swept down a flash of blue flame,
and stopped on a twig almost within the boy's reach.

(16:57):
Cocked his head to one side and eyed the strangers
with a consuming curiosity. A gray squirrel and a big
fellow of the fox kind came scurrying along, sitting up
at intervals to inspect and chatter at the boys. For
the wild things had probably never seen a human being before,
and scarcely knew whether to be afraid or not. All
nature was wide awake and stirring. Now, long lances of

(17:20):
sunlight pierced down through the dense foliage far and near,
and a few butterflies came fluttering upon the scene. Tom
stirred up the other pirates, and they all clattered away
with a shout, and in a minute or two were
stripped and chasing after and tumbling over each other in
the shallow, limpid water of the white sand bar. They
felt no longing for the little village sleeping in the

(17:41):
distance beyond the majestic waste of water. A vagrant current
or a slight rise in the river had carried off
their raft, but this only gratified them, since its going
was something like burning the bridge between them and civilization.
They came back to camp wonderfully refreshed, glad hearted, and ravenous,
and they soon had the camp fire blazing up again.

(18:05):
Huck found a spring of clear, cold water close by,
and the boys made cups of broad oak or hickory leaves,
and felt that water, sweetened with such wildwood charm as
that would be a good enough substitute for coffee. While
Joe was slicing bacon for breakfast, Tom and Huck asked
him to hold on a minute. They stepped to a
promising nook in the river bank and threw in their lines.

(18:28):
Almost immediately they had reward. Joe had not had time
to get impatient before they were back again with some
handsome bass, a couple of sun perch, and a small catfish,
provisions enough for quite a family. They fried the fish
with a bacon and were astonished, for no fish had
ever seemed so delicious before. They did not know that

(18:48):
the quicker a fresh water fish is on the fire
after it is caught, the better he is. And they
reflected little upon what a sauce, open air, sleeping, open
air exercise, bathing, and a large ingredient of hunger makes too.
They lay around in the shade after breakfast while Huck
had a smoke, and then went off through the woods
on an exploring expedition. They tramped gaily along over decaying logs,

(19:13):
through tangled underbrush, among solemn monarchs of the forest hung
from their crowns to the ground with a drooping regalia
of grape vines. Now and then they came upon snug
nooks carpeted with grass and jeweled with flowers. They found
plenty of things to be delighted with, but nothing to
be astonished at. They discovered that the island was about

(19:35):
three miles long and a quarter of a mile wide,
and that the shore it lay it closest to was
only separated from it by a narrow channel hardly two
hundred yards wide. They took a swim about every hour,
so it was close upon the middle of the afternoon
when they got back to the camp. They were too
hungry to stop to fish, but they fared sumptuously upon
cold ham, and then threw themselves down in the shade

(19:57):
to talk. But the talk soon began to drag and
then died. The stillness, the solemnity that brooded in the woods,
and the sense of loneliness began to tell upon the
spirits of the boys. They fell to thinking. A sort
of undefined longing crept upon them. This took dim shape.
Presently it was budding home sickness. Even Finn the red

(20:20):
handed was dreaming of his door steps and empty hogsheads.
But they were all ashamed of their weakness, and none
was brave enough to speak his thought. For some time
now the boys had been dully conscious of a particular
sound in the distance, just as one sometimes is of
the ticking of a clock, which he takes no distinct
note of. But now this mysterious sound became more pronounced

(20:43):
and forced to recognition. The boys started glanced at each other,
and then each assumed a listening attitude. There was a
long silence, profound and unbroken, and then a deep sullen
boom came floating down out of the distance. What is it?
Exclaimed Joe under his breath. I wonder, said Tom in
a whisper. Tain't thunder, said Uncle Berry in an awed tone,

(21:07):
because thunder hark, said Tom, listen, don't talk. They waited
a time that seemed an age, and then the same
muffled boom troubled the solemn hush. Let's go and see.
They sprang to their feet and hurried to the shore
toward the town. They parted the bushes on the bank
and peered out over the water. The little steam ferryboat
was about a mile below the village, drifting with the current.

(21:30):
Her broad deck seemed crowded with people. There was a
great many skiffs rowing about or floating with a stream
in the neighborhood of the ferryboat, but the boys could
not determine what the men and them were doing. Presently,
a great jet of white smoke burst from the ferryboat's side,
and as it expanded and rose in a lazy cloud,

(21:50):
that same dull throb of sound was borne to the listeners. Again.
I know now, exclaimed Tom. Somebody's drownded. That's it, said Huck.
They'd done that last summer when Bill Turner got drounded.
They shoot a cannon over the water and that makes
him come up to the top. Yes, and they'd take
loads of bread and put quicksilver in them and set

(22:11):
em afloat, and wherever there's anybody that's drowned, they'll float
right there and stop. Yes, I've heard about that, said Joe.
I wonder what makes the bread do that. Oh, it
ain't the bread so much, said Tom. I reckon, it's
mostly what they say over it before they started out.
But they don't say anything over it, said Huck. I've
seen him and they don't. Well that's funny, said Tom.

(22:34):
But maybe they say it to themselves. Of course they do.
Anybody might know that. The other boys agree that there
was reason in what Tom said, because an ignorant lump
of bread uninstructed by an incantation could not be expected
to act very intelligently when sent upon an errand of
such gravity by Jings. I wish I was over there now,
said Joe. I do too, said Huck. I give heaps

(22:56):
to know who it is. The boys still listened and
watched presly, A revealing thought flashed through Tom's mind, and
he exclaimed, boys, I know who's drownded. It's us. They
felt like heroes in an instant. Here was a gorgeous triumph.
They were missed, they were mourned. Hearts were breaking on

(23:17):
their account. Tears were being shed accusing memories of unkindness
to these poor lost lads were rising up, and unavailing
regrets and remorse were being indulged. And best of all,
the departed were the talk of the whole town and
the envy of all the boys. As far as this
dazzling notoriety was concerned, this was fine. It was worth

(23:38):
while to be a pirate after all. As twilight drew on,
the ferryboat went back to her accustomed business and the
skiffs disappeared. The pirates returned to camp. They were jubilant
with vanity over their new grandeur and the illustrious trouble
they were making. They caught fish, cooked supper, and ate it,
and then fell to guessing at what the village was

(23:59):
thinking and saying about them. And the pictures they drew
of the public distress on their account, were gratifying to
look upon from their point of view. But when the
shadows of night closed them in. They gradually ceased to
talk and sat gazing into the fire, with their minds
evidently wandering elsewhere. The excitement was gone now, and Tom
and Joe could not keep back thoughts of certain persons

(24:21):
at home who were not enjoying this fine frolic as
much as they were. Misgivings came, they grew troubled and unhappy.
A sigh or two escaped unawares by and by Joe
timidly ventured upon a roundabout feeler as to how the
others might look upon a return to civilization not right now,
but Tom withered him with derision. Hawk, being uncommitted as yet,

(24:46):
joined in with Tom, and the waverer quickly explained and
was glad to get out of the scrape with as
little taint of chicken hearted homesickness, clinging to his garments
as he could. Mutiny was effectually laid to rest for
the moment. As the night deepened, Huck began to nod
and presently to snore. Joe followed next. Tom lay upon

(25:06):
his elbow motionless for some time, watching the two intently.
At last he got up cautiously on his knees and
went searching among the grass and the flickering reflections flung
by the camp fire. He picked up and inspected several
large semi cylinders of the thin white bark of a sycamore,
and finally chose two which seemed to suit him. Then
he knelt by the fire and painfully wrote something upon

(25:29):
each of these with his red keel. One he rolled
up and put in his jacket pocket, and the other
he put in Joe's hat and removed it to a
little distance from the owner. And he also put into
the hat certain schoolboy treasures of almost inestimable value, among
them a lump of chalk, an India rubber ball, three
fish hooks, and one of that kind of marbles known

(25:50):
as the sure Enough crystal. Then he tiptoed his way
cautiously among the trees till he felt that he was
out of hearing, and straightway broke into a key run
in the direction of the sand bar. End of Chapter fourteen.
Chapter fifteen, Tom's stealthy visit home. A few minutes later,

(26:11):
Tom was in the shoal water of the bar, wading
toward the Illinois shore. Before the depth reached his middle,
he was half way over. The current would permit no
more waiting now, so he struck out confidently to swim
the remaining hundred yards. He swam quartering up stream, but
still was swept downwards, rather faster than he had expected. However,

(26:31):
he reached the shore finally and drifted along till he
found a low place and drew himself out. He put
his hand on his jacket pocket, found his piece of
bark safe, and then struck through the woods, following the
shore with streaming garments. Shortly before ten o'clock he came
out into an open place opposite the village and saw
the ferry boat lying in the shadow of the trees

(26:51):
and the high bank. Everything was quiet under the blinking stars.
He crept down the bank, watching with all his eyes,
slipped into the water, swam three or four strokes, and
climbed into the skiff. That did you all duty. At
the boat's stern, he laid himself down under the thwarps
and waited, panting. Presently, the cracked bell tapped and a

(27:11):
voice gave the order to cast off. A minute or
two later, the skiff's head was standing high up against
the boat's swell, and the voyage was begun. Tom felt
happy in his success, for he knew it was the
boat's last trip for the night. At the end of
a long twelve or fifteen minutes, the wheel stopped and
Tom slipped overboard and swam ashore in the dusk, landing

(27:33):
fifty yards down stream. Out of danger of possible stragglers,
he flew along unfrequented alleys and shortly found himself at
his aunt's back fence. He climbed over, approached the l
and looked in at the sitting room window, for a
light was burning. There. There sat Aunt Polly, sid Mary,
and Joe Harper's mother, grouped together talking. They were by

(27:55):
the bed, and the bed was between them and the door.
Tom went to the door and began to softly lift
the latch. Then he pressed gently, and the door yielded
a crack. He continued pushing cautiously and quaking every time
it creaked, till he judged he might squeeze through on
his knees. So he put his head through and began warily.
What makes the candles blow? So said Aunt Polly. Tom

(28:19):
hurried up, Why that door's open? I believe why? Of
course it is no end of strange things. Now go
along and shut it. Sid Tom disappeared under the bed
just in time. He lay and breathed himself for a while,
then crept to where he could almost touch his aunt's foot.
But as I was saying, said Aunt Polly, he warn't bad,
so to say, only mischievous, only just giddy and harum scam.

(28:44):
You know you warn't any more responsible than a colt.
He never meant any harm. And he was the best
hearted boy that ever was. And she began to cry.
It was just so with my Joe, always full of
his devilment and up to every kind of mischief. But
he was just as unselfish and as he could be.
And laws bless me to think. I went and whipped

(29:04):
him for taking that cream, never once recollecting that. I
throwed it out myself because it was sour. And I
never to see him again in this world, never, never, never,
poor abused boy. And missus Harper sobbed as if her
heart would break. I hope Tom's better off where he is,
said Sid, But if he'd been better in some ways.

(29:24):
Sid Tom felt the glare of the old lady's eye,
though he could not see it. Not a word against
my Tom. Now that he's gone, God'll take care of him.
Never you trouble yourself, sir, Oh, missus Harper, I don't
know how to give him up. I don't know how
to give him up. He was such a comfort to me,
although he tormented my old heart out of me. Most

(29:47):
the Lord giveth and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. But it's so hard, Oh,
it's so hard. Only last Saturday, my Joe busted a
firecracker right under my nose, and I locked him sprawling.
Little did I know then, how soon, Oh, if it
was to do over again, I'd hug him and bless
him for it. Yes, yes, yes, I know just how

(30:11):
you feel, missus Harper, I know just exactly how you feel.
No longer ago than yesterday noon, my Tom took and
filled the cat full of painkiller, and I did think
the creature would tear the house down. And God forgive me.
I cracked Tom's head with my thimble. Poor boy, poor
dead boy. But he's out of all his troubles now,

(30:32):
And the last words I ever heard him say was
to reproach. But this memory was too much for the
old lady, and she broke entirely down. Tom was snuffling
now himself, and more in pity of himself than anybody else.
He could hear Mary crying and putting in a kindly
word for him. From time to time he began to
have a nobler opinion of himself than ever before. Still,

(30:54):
he was sufficiently touched by his aunt's grief to long
to rush out from under the bed and overwhelm her
with joy. And the theatrical gorgeousness of the thing appealed
strongly to his nature too, But he resisted and lay still.
He went on listening, and gathered by odds and ends
that it was conjectured at first that the boys had
got drowned while taking a swim. Then the small raft

(31:15):
had been missed. Next, certain boys said the missing lads
had promised that the village should hear something soon. The
wise heads had put this and that together and decided
that the lads had gone off on that raft and
would turn up at the next town below presently. But
toward noon the raft had been found lodged against the
Missouri shore, some five or six miles below the village.

(31:38):
And then hope perished. They must be drowned, else hunger
would have driven them home by nightfall, if not sooner.
It was believed that the search for the bodies had
been a fruitless effort, merely because the drowning must have
occurred in mid channel, since the boys, being good swimmers,
would otherwise have escaped to shore. This was Wednesday night.

(31:58):
If the bodies continued until Sunday, all hope would be
given over and the funerals would be preached on that morning.
Tom shuddered, Missus Harper gave a sobbing good night, and
turned to go. Then, with a mutual impulse, the two
bereaved women flung themselves into each other's arms and had
a good consoling cry, and then parted. Aunt Polly was

(32:20):
tender far beyond her wont in her good night to
Sid and Mary. Sid snuffled a bit, and Mary went off,
crying with all her heart. Aunt Polly knelt down and
prayed for Tom so touchingly, so appealingly, and with such
measureless love in her words and her old trembling voice,
that he was welltering in tears again long before she
was through. He had to keep still long after she

(32:43):
went to bed, for she kept making broken hearted ejaculations
from time to time, tossing unrestfully and turning over. But
at last she was still only moaning a little in
her sleep. Now the boy stole out, rose gradually from
the bedside, shaded the candle light with his hand, and
stood guarding her. His heart was full of pity for her.
He took out his sycamore scroll and placed it by

(33:05):
the candle. But something occurred to him, and he lingered,
considering his face lighted with a happy solution of his thought,
he put the bark hastily in his pocket. Then he
bent over and kissed the faded lips, and straightway made
his stealthy exit, latching the door behind him. He threaded
his way back to the ferry landing, found nobody at

(33:26):
large there, and walked boldly on board the boat, for
he knew she was tenantless, except that there was a
watchman who always turned in and slept like a graven image.
He untied the skiff at the stern, slipped into it,
and was soon rowing cautiously up stream. When he had
pulled a mile above the village, he started quartering across
and bent himself stoutly to his work. He hit the

(33:48):
landing on the other side neatly, for this was a
familiar bit of work for him. He was moved to
capture the skiff, arguing that it might be considered a
ship and therefore a legitimate prey for a pirate. But
he knew a thorough search would be made for it,
and that might end in revelations. So he stepped ashore
and entered the wood. He sat down and took a
long rest, torturing himself meantime to keep awake, and then

(34:12):
started warily down the home stretch. The night was far spent.
It was broad daylight before he found himself fairly abreast
the island bar. He rested again until the sun was
well up and gilding the great river with its splendor,
and then he plunged into the stream. A little later,
he paused, dripping upon the threshold of the camp, and
heard Joe say, no, Tom's true blue, Huck. He'll come back.

(34:36):
He won't desert. He knows that would be a disgrace
to a pirate. And Tom's too proud for that sort
of thing. He's up to something or other. I wonder
what well the thing's is ours? Anyway? Ain't they pretty near?
But not yet, Huck? The writing says they are if
he ain't back here to breakfast, which he is, exclaimed Tom,
with fine dramatic effect, stepping grandly into camp. A sumptuous

(35:01):
breakfast of bacon and fish was shortly provided, and as
the boys set to work upon it, Tom recounted and
adorned his adventures. They were a vain and boastful company
of heroes. When the tale was done, then Tom hid
himself away in a shady nook to sleep till noon,
and the other pirates got ready to fish and explore.
End of Chapter fifteen.