Chapter 30 - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
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

(00:23):
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

(00:46):
entered. Huck 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 onetoo. 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

(01:08):
when the pistols went off, andI didn't stop for three miles. I've
come now because I wanted to knowabout it, you know. And I
come before daylight because I didn't wantto run across them devils, even if
they was dead. Well, poorChap, you do look as if you'd
had a hard night of it.But there's a bed here for you when
you've had your breakfast. No,they ain't dead, lad, We're sorry

(01:32):
enough for that, you see.We knew right word to put our hands
on them, by your description.So we crept along on tiptoe till we
got within fifteen feet of them.Dark as a seller, that Sumac path
was, and just then I foundI was going to sneeze. It was
the meanest kind of luck. Itried to keep it back, but no
use. Twas bound to come,and it did come. I was in

(01:53):
the lead with my epistol raised,and when the sneeze started, those scoundrels
are rustling to get out of thepath. I sung out, fire boys
and blazed away at the place wherethe rustling was. So did the boys,
but they were off in a jiffy, those villains, and we after
them down through the woods. Ijudge we never touched them. They fired
a shot apiece as they started,but their bullets whizzed by and didn't do

(02:15):
us any harm. As soon aswe lost the sound of their feet,
we quit chason and went down andstirred up the constables. They got a
posse together and went off to guardthe river bank. And as soon as
it is light, the sheriff anda gang are going to beat up the
woods. My boys will be withthem presently. I wish we had some
sort of description of those rascals.It would help a good deal. But

(02:38):
you couldn't see what they were likein the 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 themen happened on them in the woods back

(02:59):
of the widows one day, andthey slunk away. Off with your boys
and tell the sheriff get your breakfasttomorrow morning. The Welshman's sons departed at
once. As they were leaving theroom, Huck sprang up and exclaimed,
oh, please don't tell anybody itwas me that blowed on him. Oh
please, it's all right if yousay it, Huck, but you ought
to have the credit of what youdid. No, no, no,

(03:20):
please, please don't tell. Whenthe young men were gone, the old
Welshman said, they won't tell,and I won't. But why don't you
want it known? Huck would notexplain further than to say that he already
knew too much about one of thosemen, and would not have the man
know that he knew anything against him, for the whole world he would be
killed for knowing it. Sure,the old man promised secrecy once more,

(03:44):
and said, how did you cometo follow these fellows? Lad? Were
they looking suspicious? Huck was silentwhile he framed a duly cautious reply,
and then he said, well,you see, I'm a kind of a
hard lot. Least everybody says so. And I don't see nothing again it
and sometimes I can't sleep much onaccounts of thinking about it and sort of

(04:04):
trying to strike out a new wayof doing That was the way it was
last night I couldn't sleep, andso I'd come along up streep out midnight
of turning it all over. Andwhen I got to that old shackly brick
store by the Temperance Tavern, Ibacked up again the wall to have another
think. Well, just then alongcomes these two chaps slipping along close by
me. Was something under their arm, and I reckoned they'd stole it.

(04:28):
One was a smokin' and t'other onewanted a light, so they stopped right
before me, and the cigars litup their faces, and I see that
the big one was the deaf anddumb spaniard by his white whiskers and the
patch on his eye, and t'otherone was a rusty, ragged looking devil.
Could you see the rags by thelight of the cigars. This staggered
Huck for a moment. Then hesaid, well, I don't know,

(04:49):
but somehow it seems as if Idid. Then they went on and you
followed them. Yes, that wasit. I wanted to see what was
up. They sneaked along, soI dogged him to the witer's style and
stood in the dark and heard theragged one beg for the wider and the
Spaniard swear he'd spile her looks,just as I told you when you're too

(05:09):
what the deaf and dumb man saidall that, Huck had made another terrible
mistake. He was trying his bestto keep the old man from getting the
faintest hint of who the Spaniard mightbe, and yet his tongue seemed determined
to get him into trouble. Inspite of all he could do. He
made several efforts to creep out ofhis scrape, but the old Man's eye
was upon him, and he madeblunder after blunder. Presently, the Welshman

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said, my boy, don't beafraid of me. I wouldn't hurt a
hair of your head for all theworld. No, I'd protect you,
I'll I'd protect you. This Spaniardis not deaf and dumb. You've let
that slip without intending it. Youcan't cover that up. Now. You
know something about that Spaniard that youwant to keep dark. Now trust me,

(05:55):
tell me what it is, andtrust me I won't betray you.
Huk looked into the old man's honesteyes a moment, then bent over and
whispered in his ear. Tain't aSpaniard. It's Injun, Joe. The
Welshman almost jumped out of his chairin a moment. He said, it's
all plain enough now. When youtalked about notching ears and the slitting noses,

(06:18):
I judged that was your own embellishment, because white men don't take that
sort of revenge. But an Injunthat's a different matter altogether. During breakfast,
the talk went on, and inthe course of it, the old
man said that the last thing whichhe and his sons had done before going
to bed was to get a lanternand examine the stile at its vicinity for

(06:39):
marks of blood. They found none, but captured a bulky bundle of of
what If the words had been lightning, they could not have leapt with a
more stunning suddenness from Huck's blanched lips. His eyes were staring wide now,
and his breath suspended, waiting forthe answer. The Welshman started stared in
return three seconds, five seconds ten, then replied, of Burglar's tools,

(07:05):
Why what's the matter with you?Huck sank back, panting gently but deeply,
unutterably grateful. The Welshman eyed himgravely, curiously, and presently said,
yes, burglar's tools. That appearsto relieve you a good deal.
But what did give you that turn? What were you expecting we'd found?

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Huck was in a close place.The inquiring eye was upon him. He
would have given anything for material Fora plausible answer. Nothing suggested itself.
Ther inquiring eye was boring deeper anddeeper. A senseless reply offered, there
was no time to weigh it,so at a venture, he uttered it
feebly Sunday school books. Maybe poorHuck was too distressed to smile. But

(07:49):
the old man laughed loud and joyously, shook up the details of his anatomy
from head to foot, and endedby saying that such a laugh was money
in a man's pocket, because itcut down 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

(08:11):
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,

(08:31):
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

(08:54):
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

(09:16):
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 Knight 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

(09:37):
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.

(09:58):
When all else had and 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 any tools left to work with,
and what was the use of wakingyou up and scaring you to death.
My three negro men stood guard atyour house all the rest of the night.

(10:20):
They've just come back. More visitorscame, and the story had to
be told and retold for a coupleof hours more. There was no sabbath
school during day school vacation, buteverybody was early at church. The stirring
event was well canvassed. News camethat not a sign of the two villains
had been yet discovered. When thesermon was finished, Judge Thatcher's wife dropped

(10:43):
alongside of Missus Harper as she moveddown the aisle with a crowd, and
said, is my Becky going tosleep all day? I just expected she
would be tired to death. You'reBecky, yes, with a startled look.
Didn't she stay with you last night? Why no? Missus Thatcher turned
pale and sank into a pew,just as Aunt Polly, talking briskly with

(11:07):
a friend passed by. Aunt Pollysaid, 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 head feebly andturned paler than ever. He didn't

(11:28):
stay with us, said Missus Harper, beginning to look uneasy, A marked
anxiety came to 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

(11:50):
every countenance. Children were anxiously questioned, and young teachers. They all said
they had not noticed whether Tom andBecky were on board the ferry boat on
the homeward trip. It was dark, no one thought of inquiring if any
one was missing. One young manfinally blurted out his fear that they were
still in the cave. Missus Thatcherswooned away. Aunt Polly fell to crying

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and wringing her hands. The alarmsswept from lip to lip, from group
to group, from street to street, and within five minutes the bells were
wildly clanging, and the whole townwas up. The card Off Hill episode
sank into instant insignificance. The burglarswere forgotten, horses were saddled, skiffs
were manned, the ferry boat orderedout, and before the horror was half

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an hour old, two hundred menwere pouring down high road and river toward
the cave. All the long afternoonthe village seemed empty and dead. Many
women visited Aunt Polly and Missus Thatcherand tried to comfort them. They cried
with them too, and that wasstill better than words. All the tedious
night the town waited for news,But when the morning dawned at last,

(12:54):
all the word that came was sendmore candles and send food. Missus Thatcher
was almost crazed, and Aunt Pollyalso judge. Thatcher sent messages of hope
and encouragement from the cave, butthey conveyed no real cheer. The old
Welshman came home toward daylight, spatteredwith candle grease, smeared with clay,
and almost worn out. He foundHuck still in the bed that had been

(13:16):
provided for him, and delirious withfever. The physicians were all at the
cave, so the widow Douglas cameand took charge of the patient. She
said she would do her best byhim, because whether he was good,
bad, or indifferent, he wasthe Lord's and nothing that was the lord's
was a thing to be neglected.The Welshman said Huck had good spots in

(13:37):
him, and the widow said,you can depend on it. That's the
Lord's mark. He don't leave itoff. He never does, puts it
somewhere on every creature that comes fromhis hands. Early in the forenoon,
parties of jaded men began to straggleinto the village, but the strongest of
the citizens continued searching. All thenews that could be gained was that remoteness

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of the cavern were being ransacked thathad never been visited before, that every
corner and crevice was going to bethoroughly searched, That wherever one wandered through
the maze of passages, lights wereto be seen flitting hither and thither in
the distance, and shoutings and pistolshots sent their hollow reverberations to the ear.
Down the Somber aisles. In oneplace, far from the section usually

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traversed by tourists, the names Beckyand Tom had been found traced upon the
rocky wall with candlesmoke, and nearat hand a grease soiled bit of ribbon.
Missus Thatcher recognized the ribbon and criedover it. She said it was
the last relic she would ever haveof her child, and that no other
memorial of her could ever be soprecious, because this one parted latest from

(14:46):
the living body before the awful deathcame. Some said that now and then
in the cave, a far awayspeck of light would glimmer, and then
a glorious shout would burst forth,and a score of men go trooping down
the going aisle, and then asickening disappointment always followed. The children were
not there. It was only asearcher's light. Three dreadful days and nights

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dragged their tedious hours along, andthe village sank into a hopeless stupor.
No one had heart for anything.The accidental discovery just made that the proprietor
of the Temperance Tavern kept liquor onhis premises, scarcely fluttered the public pulse
tremendous as the fact was. Ina lucid interval, Huck feebly led up

(15:30):
to the subject of taverns and finallyasked, dimly, dreading the worst,
if anything had been discovered at theTemperance Tavern since he had been ill.
Yes, said the widow. Huckstarted up in bed, wild eyed.
What what was it? Liquor?And the place has been shut up?
Lie down, child, What aturn you did give me? Only tell

(15:52):
me just one thing, only justone please? Was it Tom Sawyer that
found it? The widow burst intotears. Hush, hush, child,
hush, I've told you before,you must not talk. You are very,
very sick. Then nothing but liquorhad been found. There would have
been a great pow wow if ithad been the gold. So the treasure
was gone, forever, gone forever. But what could she be crying about?

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Curious that she should cry. Thesethoughts work their dim way through Huck's
mind, and under the weariness theygave him, he fell asleep. The
widow said to herself, there he'sasleep, poor wreck Tom Sawyer find it.
Pity, but somebody could find TomSawyer. Ah, there ain't many
left now that's got hope enough orstrength enough either to go on searching.

(16:41):
End of chapter thirty