Chapters 16 to 17 - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Chapter sixteen, First Pipes, I'velost my knife. After dinner, all
the gang turned out to hunt forturtle eggs on the bar. They went
about poking sticks into the sand,and when they found a soft place,
they went down on their knees anddug with their hands. Sometimes they would
take fifty or sixty eggs out ofone hole. They were perfectly round,

(00:23):
white things, a trifle smaller thanan English walnut. They had a famous
fried egg feast that night and anotheron Friday morning. After breakfast, they
went whooping and prancing out on thebar and chased each other round and round,
shedding clothes as they went until theywere naked, and then continued the
frolic far away up the shoal waterof the bar against the stiff current,

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which latter tripped their legs from underthem from time to time and greatly increased
the fun. And now and thenthey stooped in a group and splashed water
on each other's faces with their palms, gradually approaching each other with averted faces
to avoid the strangling sprays, andfinally gripping and struggling till the best man
ducked his neighbor. And then theyall went under in a tangle of white

(01:07):
legs and arms, and came upblowing, sputtering, laughing, and gasping
for breath. At one and thesame time, when they were well exhausted,
they would run out and sprawl onthe dry, hot sand and lie
there and cover themselves up with it, and by and by break from the
water again, and go through theoriginal performance once more. Finally it occurred

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to them that their naked skin representedflush colored tights very fairly. So they
drew a ring in the sand andhad a circus with three clowns in it,
for none would yield this proudest postto his neighbor. Next they got
their marbles and played nuts and ringtall and keeps till that amusement grew stale.

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Then Joe and Huck had another swim, but Tom would not venture because
he found that in kicking off histrousers he had kicked his string of rattlesnake
rattles off his ankle, and hewondered how he had escaped ramps so long
without the protection of this mysterious charm. He did not venture again until he
had found it, and by thattime the other boys were tired and ready
to rest. They gradually wandered apartand dropped into the dumps, and fell

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to gazing longingly across the wide riverto where the village lay. Drowsing in
the sun, Tom found himself writingBecky in the sand with his big toe.
He scratched it out, and wasangry with himself for his weakness,
but he wrote it again. Nevertheless, he could not help it. He
raised it once more, and thentook himself out of temptation by driving the

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other boys together and joining them.But Joe's spirits had gone down, almost
beyond resurrection. He was so homesickthat he could hardly endure the misery of
it. The tears lay very nearthe surface. Huck was melancholy too.
Tom was downhearted, but tried hardnot to show it. He had a
secret which he was not ready totell yet. But if this mutinous depression

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was not broken up soon, hewould have to bring it out. He
said, with a great show ofcheerfulness. I bet there's been pirates on
this island before. Boys, we'llexplore it again. They've hid treasures here
somewhere. How'd you feel to lighton a rotten chest full of gold and
silver? Hey, but it rousedonly a faint enthusiasm, which faded out

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with no reply. Tom tried oneor two other seductions, but they failed
too. It was discouraging work.Joe sat poking up the sand with a
stick and looking very gloomy. Finallyhe said, oh, boys, let's
give it up. I want togo home. It's so lonesome. Oh
no, Joe, you'll feel better. Buy and buy, said Tom.
Just think of the fishing that's here. I don't care for fishing. I

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want to go home. But Joe, there ain't such another swimming place anywhere.
Swimming's no good. I don't seemto care for it somehow, when
there ain't anybody to say, Ishan't go in. I mean to go
home. Oh shucks, baby,want to see your mother? I reckon,
yes, I do want to seemy mother, and you would too
if you had one. I ain'tany more baby than you are. And

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Joe snuffled a little. Well,we'll let the cry baby go home to
his mother, won't we huck?Poor thing does it want to see its
mother? And so it? Shall? You like it here, don't you
huck? We'll stay, won't weHuck? Said yes? Without any heart
in it. I'll never speak toyou again as long as I live,

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said Joe, rising there now,and he moved moodily away and began to
dress himself. Who cares, saidTom? Nobody wants you to go along
home and get laughed at. Oh, you're a nice pirate, hucking me.
Ain't cry babies. We'll stay,won't we, Huck? Let him
go if he wants to. Ireckon, we can get along without him,
perhaps. But Tom was uneasy nevertheless, and was alarmed to see Joe

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go sullenly on with his dressing.And then it was discomforting to see Huck
eyeing Joe's preparations so wistfully and keepingup such an ominous silence. Presently,
without a parting word, Joe beganto wade off toward the Illinois shore.
Tom's heart began to sink. Heglanced at Huck. Huck could not bear

(05:09):
the look and dropped his eyes,and then he said, I want to
go too, Tom. He wasgetting so lonesome anyway, and now it'll
be worse. Let us go too, Tom, I won't. You can
all go if you want to,I mean to stay, Tom, I'd
better go we'll go along. Who'shendering you? Huck began to pick up

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his scattered clothes, and he said, Tom, I wish you'd come too.
Now you think it over, We'llwait for you when we get to
the shore. Well you will waita blame long time, that's all.
Huck started sorrowfully away, and Tomstood looking after him, with a strong
desire tugging at his heart to yieldhis pride and go along too. He
hoped the boys would stop, butthey still waited slowly on. It suddenly

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dawned on Tom that it was becomevery lonely, and still he made one
final struggle with his pride, andthen darted after his comrades, yelling wait,
wait, I want to tell yousomething. They presently stopped and turned
round. When he got to wherethey were, he began unfolding his secret,
and they listened moodily till at lastthey saw the point he was driving

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at, and then they set upa war whoop of applause and said it
was splendid, and said if hehad told them at first, they wouldn't
have started away. He made aplausible excuse, but his real reason had
been the fear that not even thesecret would keep them with him in a
very great length of time, andso he had meant to hold it in
reserve as a last seduction. Thelads came gaily back and went at their

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sportskin with a will, chattering allthe time about Tom's stupendous plan and admiring
the genius of it. After adainty egg and fished dinner, Tom said
he wanted to learn to smoke.Now. Joe caught at the idea and
said he would like to try to. So Huck made pipes and filled them.
These novices had never smoked anything before, but ours made of grape vine,

(07:00):
and they bit the tongue and werenot considered manly anyway. Now they
stretched themselves out on their elbows andbegan to puff Charlie and with slender confidence.
The smoke had an unpleasant taste,and they gagged a little. But
Tom said, why, it's justas easy. If I'd have knowed this
was all, I'd have learned longago, so would I, said Joe,

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it's just nothing. Why many atime I've looked at people smoking and
thought, well, I wish Icould do that, But I never thought
I could, said Tom, that'sjust the way with me, hated Huck.
You heard me talk just that way, haven't you, Huck. I'll
leave it to Huck if I haven't. Yes, heaps of time, said
Huck. Well I have too,said Tom. Oh hundreds of times.

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Once down by the slaughter house.Don't you remember, Huck, Bob Tanner
was there, and Johnny Miller andJeff Thatcher when I said it? Don't
you remember Huck about me saying that, Yes, that's so, said Huck.
That was the day after I losta white alley, No, twas
the day before there I told youso, said Tom. How recollects it?
I believe I could smoke this pipeall day, said Joe. I

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don't feel sick. Neither do,I said Tom. I could smoke it
all day. But I bet youJeff Thatcher couldn't. Jeff Thatcher, why
he'd keel over with two draws.Just let him try it once he'd see,
I bet he would. And JohnnyMiller. I wish I could see
Johnny Miller tackle it once. Ohdon't, I said Joe? Why?

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I bet? Now? Johnny Millercouldn't anymore do this than nothing. Just
one little sniffer would fetch him deedit would. Joe say, I wish
the boys could see us, now, so do I say? Boys don't
say anything about it. And sometimewhen they're around, I'll come up to
you and say, Joe, gota pipe I want to smoke, And

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you'll say kind of careless, likeas if it weren't anything. You'll say,
yes, I got my old pipeand another one, but my tobacco
ain't very good, and I'll say, oh, that's all right if it's
strong enough, and then you'll outwith the pipes, and we'll light up
just as calm, and then justsee him look by jeans. That'll be
gay, Tom. I wish itwas now, so do I. And

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when we tell him we learned whenwe was off pirating, won't they wish
they'd been long? Oh? Ireckon not. I'll just bet they will.
So the talk ran on, butpresently it began to flag a trifle
and grow disjointed. The silence iswidened, the expectoration marvelously increased. Every
pore inside the boy's cheeks became aspouting fountain. They could scarcely bale out

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the cellars under their tongues fast enoughto prevent an inundation. Little overflowings down
their throats occurred in spite of allthey could do, and sudden wretchings followed
every time. Both boys were lookingvery pale and miserable. Now Joe's pipe
dropped from his nerveless fingers. Tom'sfollowed. Both fountains were going furiously,
and both pumps baling with might andmain. Joe said, feebly, I've

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lost my knife. I reckon I'dbetter go and find it. Tom said,
with quivering lips and halting utterance,I'll help you. You go over
that way and i'll hunt around bythe spring. No, you needn't come,
Huck. We can find it.So Huck sat down again and waited
an hour. Then he found itlonesome and went to find his comrades.
They were wide apart in the woods, both very pale, both fast asleep.

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But something informed him that if theyhad had any trouble, they'd got
rid of it. They were nottalking of At supper that night they had
a humble look, and when Huckprepared his pipe after the meal and was
going to prepare theirs, they saidno, they were not feeling very well.
Something they ate at dinner had disagreedwith them. About midnight, Joe
awoke and called the boys. Therewas a brooding oppressiveness in the air that

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seemed to bode something. The boyshuddled themselves together and sought the friendly companionship
of the fire. Though the dull, dead heat of the breathless atmosphere was
stifling. They sat still, intentand waiting. The solemn hush continued beyond
the light of the fire. Everythingwas swallowed up in the blackness of darkness.
Presently there came a quivering glow thatvaguely revealed the foliage for a moment,

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and then vanished by and by anothercame a little stronger, then another.
Then a faint moan came sighing throughthe branches of the forest, and
the boys felt a fleeting breath upontheir cheeks, and shuddered with a fancy
that the spirit of the night hadgone by. There was a pause.
Now, a weird flash turned nightinto day, and showed every little grass

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blade separate and distinct, and grewabout their feet, and it showed three
white, startled faces too. Adeep peal of thunder went rolling and tumbling
down the heavens and lost itself insullen rumblings in the distance. A sweep
of chilly air passed by, rustlingall the leaves and snowing the flaky ashes
broadcast about the fire. Another fierceglare lit up the forest, and an

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instant crash followed that seemed to rendthe tree tops over the boy's heads.
They clung together in terror in thethick gloom that followed, A few big
raindrops fell, pattering upon the leaves. Quick boys, go for the tent,
exclaimed Tom. They sprang away,stumbling over the roots and among vines
in the dark, no two plungingin the same direction. A furious blast

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roared through the trees, making everythingsing as it went, one blinding flash
after another, and the peal onpeal of deafening thunder. And now a
drenching rain poured down, and therising hurricane drove it in sheets along the
ground. The boys cried out toeach other, but the roaring wind and
the booming thunderblasts drowned their voices utterly. However, one by one they straggled

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in at last and took shelter underthe tent, cold, scared and streaming
with water, but to have companyand misery seemed something to be grateful for.
They could not talk the old sailflat so furiously, even if the
other noises would have allowed them.The tempest rose higher and higher, and
presently the sail tore loose from itsfastenings and went winging away on the blast.

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The boys seized each other's hands andfled, with many tumblings and bruises,
to the shelter of a great oaktree that stood upon the river bank.
Now the battle was at its highestunder the ceaseless conflagration of lightning that
flamed in the skies. Everything belowstood out in clean cut and shadowless distinction,
the bending trees, the billowy riverwhite with foam, the driving spray

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of spume flakes, the dim outlinesof the high bluffs on the other side,
glimpsed through the drifting cloud rack,and the slanting veil of rain.
Every little while, some giant treeyielded the fight and fell, crashing through
the younger growth, and the unflaggingthunder peels came now in ears, splitting
explosive bursts, keen and sharp andunspeakably appalling. The storm culminated in one

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matchless effort that seemed likely to tearthe island to pieces, burn it up,
drown it to the tree tops,and blow it away, and deafen
every creed. You're in it allat once at the same moment. It
was a wild night for homeless youngheads to be out in. But at
last the battle was done, andthe forces retired with weaker and weaker threatenings
and grumblings, and peace resumed hersway. The boys went back to camp

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a good deal awed, but theyfound there was still something to be thankful
for, because the great sycamore,the shelter of their beds, was a
ruin, now blasted by the lightnings, and they were not under it.
When the catastrophe happened. Everything incamp was drenched the camp fire as well,
for they were but heedless lads liketheir generation, and had made no

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provision against rain. Here was matterfor dismay, for they were soaked through
and chilled. They were eloquent intheir distress. But they presently discovered that
the fire had eaten so far upunder the great log it had been built
against, where it curved upward andseparated itself from the ground, that a
handbreadth or so of it had escapedwedding. So they paced, they wrought,

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until with shreds and bark gathered fromunder sides of sheltered logs, they
coaxed the fire to burn again.Then they piled on great dead boughs till
they had a roaring furnace, andwere glad hearted once more. They dried
their boiled ham and had a feast. And after that they sat by the
fire and expanded and glorified their midnightadventure until morning, for there was not

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a dry spot to sleep on anywherearound. As the sun began to steal
in upon the boys, drowsiness cameover them, and they went out on
the sand bar and lay down tosleep. They got scorched out by and
by, and drearily set about gettingbreakfast. After the meal, they felt
rusty and stiff jointed, and alittle homesick. Once more, Tom saw

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the signs and fell to cheering upthe pirates as well as he could,
But they cared nothing for marbles orcircus, or swimming or anything. He
reminded them of the imposing secret andraised a ray of cheer, while at
last he got them interested in anew device. This was to knock off
being pirates. For a while andbe Indians for a change. They were
attracted by this idea, so itwas not long before they were stripped and

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striped from head to heel with blackmud, like so many zebras, all
of them chiefs, of course.And then they went tearing through the woods
to attack an English settlement. Byand by they separated into three hostile tribes
and darted upon each other from ambushwith dreadful war whoops, and killed and
scalped each other by thousands. Itwas a gory day. Consequently, it

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was an extremely satisfactory one. Theyassembled in camp towards supper time, hungry
and happy. But now a difficultyarose. Hostile Indians could not break the
bread of hospitality together without first makingpeace, and this was a simple impossibility
without smoking a pipe of peace.There was no other process that they ever
had heard of. Two of thesavages almost wished they had remained pirates.

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However, there was no other way. So with such show of cheerfulness as
they could muster, they called forthe pipe and took their whiff as it
passed in due form. And behold, they were glad they had gone into
savagery, for they had gained something. They found that they could now smoke
a little without having to go andhunt for a lost knife. They did
not get sick enough to be seriouslyuncomfortable. They were not likely to fool

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away this high promise for lack ofeffort. No, they practiced cautiously after
supper with right fair success, andso they spent a jubilant evening. They
were prouder and happier in their newacquirement than they would have been in the
scalping and skinning of the six nations. We will leave them to smoke and
chatter and brag, since we haveno further use for them at present end

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of chapter sixteen, Chapter seventeen,Pirates at their own funeral, But there
was no hilarity in the little town. That same tranquil Saturday afternoon, the
Harper's and Aunt Polly's family were beingput into mourning with great grief and many
tears. An unusual quiet possessed thevillage, although it was ordinarily quiet enough

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in all conscience. The villagers conductedtheir concerns with an absent mind and talked
little, but they sighed often.The Saturday holiday seemed to burden to the
children they had no heart in theirsports, and gradually gave them up.
In the afternoon, Becky Thatcher foundherself moping about the deserted schoolhouse yard and
feeling very melancholy, but she foundnothing there to comfort her. She soliloquized,

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Oh, if I only had abrass and iron knob again, but
I haven't got anything now to rememberhim by, and she choked back a
little sob Presently, she stopped andsaid to herself, it was right here.
Oh, if it was to doover again, I wouldn't say that.
I wouldn't say it for the wholeworld. But he's gone now.
I'll never, never, never seehim anymore. This thought broke her down,

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and she wandered away, the tearsrolling down her cheeks. Then quite
a group of boys and girls,playmates of Tom's and Joe's, came by
and stood looking over the paling fenceand talking in reverent tones of how Tom
did so and so the last timethey saw him, and how Joe said
this and that small trifle pregnant withawful prophecy as they could easily see now,

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and each speaker pointed out the exactspot where the lost lad stood at
the time, and then added somethinglike and I was a standing just so
just as I am now, andas if you was him, I was
as close as that, and hesmiled just this way. And then something
seemed to go all over me,like awful, you know. And I

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never thought what it meant, ofcourse, but I can see now.
Then there was a dispute about whosaw the dead boys last in life,
and many claimed that dismal distinction andoffered evidences more or less tampered with by
the witness. And when it wasultimately decided who did see the departed at
last and exchanged the last words withthem, the lucky parties took upon themselves

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a sort of sacred importance, andwere gaped at and envied by all the
rest. One, poor Chap,who had no other grandeur or to offer,
said, with tolerably manifest pride inthe remembrance, well, Tom sawyer,
he licked me once, But thatbid for glory was a failure.
Most of the boys could say that, and so that cheapened the distinction too

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much. The group loitered away,still recalling memories of the lost heroes in
awed voices. When the Sunday schoolhour was finished. The next morning,
the bell began to toll instead ofringing in the usual way. It was
a very still sabbath, and themournful sound seemed in keeping with a musing

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hush that lay upon nature. Thevillagers began to gather, loitering a moment
in the vestibule to converse in whispersabout the sad event. But there was
no whispering in the house. Onlythe funereal us sling of dresses as the
women gathered to their seats disturbed thesilence. There None could remember when the
little church had been so full before. There was finally a waiting pause,

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an expectant dumbness, and then AuntPolly entered, followed by Sid and Mary,
and they by the Harper family,all in deep black, and the
whole congregation the old Minister's well rosereverently and stood until the mourners were seated
in the front pew. There wasanother communing silence, broken at intervals by
muffled sobs, and then the ministerspread his hands abroad and prayed. A

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moving him was sung, and thetext followed, I Am the Resurrection and
the Life. As the service proceeded, the clergyman drew such pictures of the
graces, the winning ways, andthe rare promise of the lost lads,
that every soul there, thinking herecognized these pictures, felt a pang in
remembering that he had persistently blinded himselfto them always before, and had as

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persistently seen only faults and flaws andthe poor boys. The minister related many
a touching incident in the lives ofthe departed two which illustrated their sweet,
generous natures, and the people couldeasily see now how noble and beautiful those
episodes were, and remembered with griefthat at the time they occurred, they

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had seemed rank rascalities, well deservingof the cowhide. The congregation became more
and more moved as the pathetic talewent on, till at last the whole
company broke down and joined the weepingmourners in a chorus of anguished sobs,
the preacher himself giving way to hisfeelings and crying in the pulpit. There
was a rustle in the gallery whichnobody noticed. A moment later, the

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church door creaked. The minister raisedhis streaming eyes above his handkerchief and stood
transfixed. First one and another pairof eyes followed the ministers, and then
almost with one impulse, the congregationrose and stared while the three dead boys
came marching up the aisle. Tomand the lead Joe next, and Huck

(23:02):
a ruin of drooping rags, sneakingsheepishly in the rear. They had been
hid in the unused gallery, listeningto their own funeral sermon. Aunt Polly,
Mary and the Harpers threw themselves upontheir restored ones, smothered them with
kisses, and poured out thanksgivings,while poor Huck stood abashed and uncomfortable,
not knowing exactly what to do orwhere to hide from so many unwelcoming eyes.

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He wavered and started to slink away, but Tom seized him and said,
Aunt Polly, it ain't fair.Somebody's got to be glad to see
Huck, and so they shall.I'm glad to see him, poor motherless
thing, and the loving attentions AuntPolly lavished upon him were the one thing
capable of making him more uncomfortable thanhe was before. Suddenly, the minister

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shouted, at the top of hisvoice, Praise God, from whom all
blessings flow, sing, and putyour hearts in it, and they did.
Old Hundreds swelled up with a triumphantburst, And while it shook the
rafters, Tom Sawyer the Pirate,looked around upon the envying juveniles about him,

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and confessed in his heart that thiswas the proudest moment of his life.
As the souled congregation trooped out,they said they would almost be willing
to be made ridiculous again to hearOld hundred sung like that once more.
Tom got more cuffs and kisses thatday, according to Aunt Polly's varying moods,

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than he had earned before in ayear, and he hardly knew which
expressed the most gratefulness to God andaffection for himself. End of Chapter seventeen.