September 23, 2021 • 11 mins
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(00:00):
Chapter twenty seven. Trembling on thetrail, the adventure of the day mightily
tormented Tom's dreams. That night,four times he had his hands on that
rich treasure, and four times itwasted to nothingness in his fingers as sleep
forsook him and wakefulness brought back thehard reality of his misfortune. As he
(00:22):
lay in the early morning recalling theincidents of his great adventure, he noticed
that they seemed curiously subdued and faraway, somewhat as if they had happened
in another world or in a timelong gone by. Then it occurred to
him that the great Adventure itself mustbe a dream. There was one very
strong argument in favor of this idea, namely that the quantity of coin he
(00:45):
had seen was too vast to bereal. He had never seen as much
as fifty dollars in one mass before, and he was like all boys of
his age and station in life inthat he imagined that all references to hundreds
and thousands were mereful forms of speech, and that no such sums really existed
in the world. He never hadsupposed for a moment that so large a
(01:07):
sum as a hundred dollars was tobe found in actual money in anyone's possession.
If his notions of hidden treasure hadbeen analyzed, they would have been
found to consist of a handful ofreal dimes and a bushel of vague,
splendid, ungraspable dollars. But theincidence of his adventure grew sensibly sharper and
clearer under the attrition of thinking themover, And so he presently found himself
(01:32):
leaning to the impression that the thingmight not have been a dream. After
all, this uncertainty must be sweptaway. He would snatch a hurried breakfast
and go and find Huck. Huckwas sitting on the gunwale of a flatboat,
listlessly, dangling his feet in thewater and looking very melancholy. Tom
concluded to let Huck lead up tothe subject. If he did not do
(01:53):
it, then the adventure would beproved to have been only a dream.
Hello Huck, Hello yourself. Silencefor a minute, Tom. If we'd
a left the blamed tools at thedead tree, we'd a got the money.
Oh, ain't it awful? Tain'ta dream? Then? Tain't a
dream? Somehow? I most wishit was dogged. If I don't,
(02:13):
Huck, what ain't a dream.Oh that thing yesterday, I've been half
thinking it was dream. If themstairs hadn't broke down, you'd a seen
how much dream it was. I'vehad dreams enough all night with that patch
eyed Spanish devil going for me,all through him. Rot him, no,
not rot him, find him?Track the money. Tom will never
(02:36):
find him. A feller don't haveonly one chance for such a pile,
and that one's lost. I'd feelmighty shaky if I was to see him
anyway. Well so'd i. ButI'd like to see him anyway. Track
him out to his number two numbertwo. Yes, that's it. I've
been thinking about that, but Ican't make nothing out of it. What
(02:57):
do you reckon it is? Idon't know it's you, deep, say,
Huck. Maybe it's the number ofa house. Goody, No,
Tom, that ain't it. Ifit is, it ain't in this one
horse town. There ain't no numbershere. Well that's so, let me
think a minute. Here, it'sthe number of a room in a tavern,
you know. Oh that's the trick. They ain't only two taverns.
(03:21):
We can find out quick. Youstay here, Huck till I come.
Tom was off at once. Hedid not care to have Huck's company in
public places. He was gone halfan hour he found that in the best
tavern, number two had long beenoccupied by a young lawyer, and was
still so occupied. In the lessostentatious house, Number two was a mystery.
(03:42):
The tavern keeper's young son said.It was kept locked all the time,
and he never saw anybody go intoit or come out of it,
except at night. He did notknow any particular reason for this state of
things. Had had some little curiosity, but it was rather feeble. Had
made the most of the mystery byentertaining himself with the idea that the room
was haunted. Had noticed that therewas a light in there the night before.
(04:05):
That's what I've found out, Huck. I reckon, that's the very
number two. Whereafter I reckon itis Tom. Now what you're going to
do? Let me think. Tomthought a long time. Then he said,
I'll tell you. The back doorof that number two is the door
that comes out into the little closealley between the tavern and the old rattletrap
(04:26):
of a brick store. Now youget hold of all the door keys you
can find, and I'll nip allof aunties and the first dark night,
we'll go there and try him.And mind you keep a lookout for Injun
Joe, because he said he wasgoing to drop into town and spy around
once more for a chance to gethis revenge. If you see him,
you just follow him. And ifhe don't go to that number two,
that ain't the place, Lordy,I don't want to follow him by myself.
(04:50):
Why, it'll be a night.Sure he mightn't ever see you,
and if he did, maybe he'dnever think anything. Well, if it's
pretty dark, I reckon I'll trackhim. I don't know. I don't
know. I'll try. You bet, I'll follow him if it's dark,
Huck, why he might have foundout that he couldn't get his revenge and
(05:12):
and be going right after that money. It's so, Tom, it's so,
I'll follow him. I will buyjingos. Now you're talking. Don't
you ever weaken? Huck? AndI won't. End of chapter twenty seven,
Chapter twenty eight. In the Lairof Injun Joe. That night,
Tom and Huck were ready for theiradventure. They hung about the neighborhood of
(05:34):
the tavern until after nine one,watching the alley at a distance. And
the other the tavern door. Nobodyentered the alley or left it. Nobody
resembling the spaniard entered or left thetavern door. The night promised to be
a fair one, so Tom wenthome with the understanding that if a considerable
degree of darkness came on, Huckwas to come and mow, whereupon he
(05:58):
would slip out and try the keys. But the night remained clear, and
Huck closed his watch and retired tobed in an empty sugar Hogshead. About
twelve Tuesday. The boys had thesame ill luck also Wednesday, but Thursday
night promised better. Tom slipped outin good season with his aunt's old tin
lantern and a large towel to blindfoldit with. He hid the lantern and
(06:21):
hucked sugar Hogshead, and the watchbegan. An hour before midnight. The
tavern closed up and its lights,the only ones thereabouts, were put out.
No spaniard had been seen, Nobodyentered or left the alley. Everything
was auspicious. The blackness of darknessreigned. The perfect stillness was interrupted only
by occasional mutterings of distant thunder.Tom got his lantern lit it in the
(06:46):
hogshead wrapped it closely in the towel, and the two adventurers crept in the
gloom toward the tavern. Huck stoodsentry and Tom felt his way into the
alley. Then there was a seasonof waiting, anxiety that weighed upon Huck
spirits like a mountain. He beganto wish he could see a flash from
the lantern. It would frighten him, but it would at least tell him
that Tom was alive. Yet itseemed hours since Tom had disappeared. Surely
(07:10):
he must have fainted, Maybe hewas dead, maybe his heart had burst
under terror and excitement. In hisuneasiness, Huck found himself drawing closer and
closer to the alley, fearing allsorts of dreadful things, and momentarily expecting
some catastrophe to happen that would takeaway his breath. There was not much
to take away, for he seemedonly able to inhale it by thimblefuls,
(07:31):
and his heart would soon wear itselfout the way it was beating. Suddenly
there was a flash of light,and Tom came tearing by him. Run,
said, he run for your life. He needn't have repeated it once
was enough Huck was making thirty orforty miles an hour before the repetition was
uttered. The boys never stopped tillthey reached the shed of a deserted slaughter
house at the lower end of thevillage. Just as they got within its
(07:54):
shelter, the storm burst and therain poured down. As soon as Tom
got his breath, he said,Huck, it was awful. I tried
two of the keys, just assoft as I could, but they seemed
to make such a power of aracket that I couldn't hardly get my breath.
I was so scared they wouldn't turnin the lock either. Well,
without noticing what I was doing,I took hold of the knob and opened
(08:16):
comes the door. It warn't locked. I hopped in and shook off the
towel and Great Caesar's ghost. Whatwhat you see, Tom, Huck?
I most stepped onto engine Joe's hand. No, yes, he was laying
there, sound asleep on the floor, with his old patch on his eye
and his arms spread out. Lordy, what did you do? Did he
(08:37):
wake up? No? Never budgeddrunk, I reckon. I just grabbed
that towel and started. I'd neverthought of the towel. I bet well,
I would. My aunt would makeme mighty sick if I lost it.
Say Tom, did you see thatbox? I didn't wait to look
around. I didn't see the box. I didn't see the cross. I
didn't see anything but a bottle anda tin cup on the floor by engine
(09:00):
shoe. Yes, and I sawtwo barrels and lots more bottles in the
room. Don't you see? Now? What's the matter with that hanted room?
How why it's hanted with whiskey?Maybe all the temperance taverns have got
a hanted room. Hey, Huck, Well, I reckon. Maybe that's
so. Who'd have thought such athing? But say Tom, now is
(09:20):
a mighty good time to get thatbox. If Injun Joe's drunk, it
is that you try it. Huckshuddered. Well, no, I reckon
not, and I reckon not,Huck, Only one bottle alongside of Injun
Joe ain't enough. If there'd beenthree, he'd be drunk enough, and
I'd do it. There was along pause for reflection, and then Tom
said, look here, Huck,let's not try that thing anymore till we
(09:43):
know Injun Joe's not in there.It's too scary. Now. If we
watch every night, we'll be deadsure to see him go out sometime or
other and then we'll snatch that boxquicker and lightning. Well, I'm agreed.
I'll watch the whole night long,and I'll do it every night too,
if you'll do the other part ofthe job, all right, I
will. All you got to dois to trot up Hooper Street a block
(10:05):
and mow, and if I'm asleep, you throw some gravel at the window
and that'll fetch me. Agreed,and good as wheat. Now, Huck,
the storm's over and I'll go home. It'll begin to be daylight in
a couple hours. You go backand watch that long, will you?
I said I would, Tom,and I will. I'll haunt that tavern
every night for a year. I'llsleep all day and I'll stand watch all
(10:26):
night. That's all right. Now? Where are you going to sleep?
In? Ben rogers hayloft? Helets me, and so does his paps,
nigger man Uncle Jake. I totewater for Uncle Jake whenever he wants
me to, and anytime I askhim, he gives me a little something
to eat if he can spare it. That's a mighty good nigger, Tom.
He likes me because I don't everact as if I was above him.
(10:50):
Sometimes I've set right down and eatwith him. But you needn't tell
that. A body's got to dothings when he's awful hungry, he wouldn't
want to do as a steady thing. Well, if I don't want you
in the daytime, i'll let yousleep. I won't come bothering around.
Anytime you see something's up in thenight, just skip right around and mount.
End of chapter twenty eight.
Chapter twenty seven. Trembling on thetrail, the adventure of the day mightily
tormented Tom's dreams. That night,four times he had his hands on that
rich treasure, and four times itwasted to nothingness in his fingers as sleep
forsook him and wakefulness brought back thehard reality of his misfortune. As he
(00:22):
lay in the early morning recalling theincidents of his great adventure, he noticed
that they seemed curiously subdued and faraway, somewhat as if they had happened
in another world or in a timelong gone by. Then it occurred to
him that the great Adventure itself mustbe a dream. There was one very
strong argument in favor of this idea, namely that the quantity of coin he
(00:45):
had seen was too vast to bereal. He had never seen as much
as fifty dollars in one mass before, and he was like all boys of
his age and station in life inthat he imagined that all references to hundreds
and thousands were mereful forms of speech, and that no such sums really existed
in the world. He never hadsupposed for a moment that so large a
(01:07):
sum as a hundred dollars was tobe found in actual money in anyone's possession.
If his notions of hidden treasure hadbeen analyzed, they would have been
found to consist of a handful ofreal dimes and a bushel of vague,
splendid, ungraspable dollars. But theincidence of his adventure grew sensibly sharper and
clearer under the attrition of thinking themover, And so he presently found himself
(01:32):
leaning to the impression that the thingmight not have been a dream. After
all, this uncertainty must be sweptaway. He would snatch a hurried breakfast
and go and find Huck. Huckwas sitting on the gunwale of a flatboat,
listlessly, dangling his feet in thewater and looking very melancholy. Tom
concluded to let Huck lead up tothe subject. If he did not do
(01:53):
it, then the adventure would beproved to have been only a dream.
Hello Huck, Hello yourself. Silencefor a minute, Tom. If we'd
a left the blamed tools at thedead tree, we'd a got the money.
Oh, ain't it awful? Tain'ta dream? Then? Tain't a
dream? Somehow? I most wishit was dogged. If I don't,
(02:13):
Huck, what ain't a dream.Oh that thing yesterday, I've been half
thinking it was dream. If themstairs hadn't broke down, you'd a seen
how much dream it was. I'vehad dreams enough all night with that patch
eyed Spanish devil going for me,all through him. Rot him, no,
not rot him, find him?Track the money. Tom will never
(02:36):
find him. A feller don't haveonly one chance for such a pile,
and that one's lost. I'd feelmighty shaky if I was to see him
anyway. Well so'd i. ButI'd like to see him anyway. Track
him out to his number two numbertwo. Yes, that's it. I've
been thinking about that, but Ican't make nothing out of it. What
(02:57):
do you reckon it is? Idon't know it's you, deep, say,
Huck. Maybe it's the number ofa house. Goody, No,
Tom, that ain't it. Ifit is, it ain't in this one
horse town. There ain't no numbershere. Well that's so, let me
think a minute. Here, it'sthe number of a room in a tavern,
you know. Oh that's the trick. They ain't only two taverns.
(03:21):
We can find out quick. Youstay here, Huck till I come.
Tom was off at once. Hedid not care to have Huck's company in
public places. He was gone halfan hour he found that in the best
tavern, number two had long beenoccupied by a young lawyer, and was
still so occupied. In the lessostentatious house, Number two was a mystery.
(03:42):
The tavern keeper's young son said.It was kept locked all the time,
and he never saw anybody go intoit or come out of it,
except at night. He did notknow any particular reason for this state of
things. Had had some little curiosity, but it was rather feeble. Had
made the most of the mystery byentertaining himself with the idea that the room
was haunted. Had noticed that therewas a light in there the night before.
(04:05):
That's what I've found out, Huck. I reckon, that's the very
number two. Whereafter I reckon itis Tom. Now what you're going to
do? Let me think. Tomthought a long time. Then he said,
I'll tell you. The back doorof that number two is the door
that comes out into the little closealley between the tavern and the old rattletrap
(04:26):
of a brick store. Now youget hold of all the door keys you
can find, and I'll nip allof aunties and the first dark night,
we'll go there and try him.And mind you keep a lookout for Injun
Joe, because he said he wasgoing to drop into town and spy around
once more for a chance to gethis revenge. If you see him,
you just follow him. And ifhe don't go to that number two,
that ain't the place, Lordy,I don't want to follow him by myself.
(04:50):
Why, it'll be a night.Sure he mightn't ever see you,
and if he did, maybe he'dnever think anything. Well, if it's
pretty dark, I reckon I'll trackhim. I don't know. I don't
know. I'll try. You bet, I'll follow him if it's dark,
Huck, why he might have foundout that he couldn't get his revenge and
(05:12):
and be going right after that money. It's so, Tom, it's so,
I'll follow him. I will buyjingos. Now you're talking. Don't
you ever weaken? Huck? AndI won't. End of chapter twenty seven,
Chapter twenty eight. In the Lairof Injun Joe. That night,
Tom and Huck were ready for theiradventure. They hung about the neighborhood of
(05:34):
the tavern until after nine one,watching the alley at a distance. And
the other the tavern door. Nobodyentered the alley or left it. Nobody
resembling the spaniard entered or left thetavern door. The night promised to be
a fair one, so Tom wenthome with the understanding that if a considerable
degree of darkness came on, Huckwas to come and mow, whereupon he
(05:58):
would slip out and try the keys. But the night remained clear, and
Huck closed his watch and retired tobed in an empty sugar Hogshead. About
twelve Tuesday. The boys had thesame ill luck also Wednesday, but Thursday
night promised better. Tom slipped outin good season with his aunt's old tin
lantern and a large towel to blindfoldit with. He hid the lantern and
(06:21):
hucked sugar Hogshead, and the watchbegan. An hour before midnight. The
tavern closed up and its lights,the only ones thereabouts, were put out.
No spaniard had been seen, Nobodyentered or left the alley. Everything
was auspicious. The blackness of darknessreigned. The perfect stillness was interrupted only
by occasional mutterings of distant thunder.Tom got his lantern lit it in the
(06:46):
hogshead wrapped it closely in the towel, and the two adventurers crept in the
gloom toward the tavern. Huck stoodsentry and Tom felt his way into the
alley. Then there was a seasonof waiting, anxiety that weighed upon Huck
spirits like a mountain. He beganto wish he could see a flash from
the lantern. It would frighten him, but it would at least tell him
that Tom was alive. Yet itseemed hours since Tom had disappeared. Surely
(07:10):
he must have fainted, Maybe hewas dead, maybe his heart had burst
under terror and excitement. In hisuneasiness, Huck found himself drawing closer and
closer to the alley, fearing allsorts of dreadful things, and momentarily expecting
some catastrophe to happen that would takeaway his breath. There was not much
to take away, for he seemedonly able to inhale it by thimblefuls,
(07:31):
and his heart would soon wear itselfout the way it was beating. Suddenly
there was a flash of light,and Tom came tearing by him. Run,
said, he run for your life. He needn't have repeated it once
was enough Huck was making thirty orforty miles an hour before the repetition was
uttered. The boys never stopped tillthey reached the shed of a deserted slaughter
house at the lower end of thevillage. Just as they got within its
(07:54):
shelter, the storm burst and therain poured down. As soon as Tom
got his breath, he said,Huck, it was awful. I tried
two of the keys, just assoft as I could, but they seemed
to make such a power of aracket that I couldn't hardly get my breath.
I was so scared they wouldn't turnin the lock either. Well,
without noticing what I was doing,I took hold of the knob and opened
(08:16):
comes the door. It warn't locked. I hopped in and shook off the
towel and Great Caesar's ghost. Whatwhat you see, Tom, Huck?
I most stepped onto engine Joe's hand. No, yes, he was laying
there, sound asleep on the floor, with his old patch on his eye
and his arms spread out. Lordy, what did you do? Did he
(08:37):
wake up? No? Never budgeddrunk, I reckon. I just grabbed
that towel and started. I'd neverthought of the towel. I bet well,
I would. My aunt would makeme mighty sick if I lost it.
Say Tom, did you see thatbox? I didn't wait to look
around. I didn't see the box. I didn't see the cross. I
didn't see anything but a bottle anda tin cup on the floor by engine
(09:00):
shoe. Yes, and I sawtwo barrels and lots more bottles in the
room. Don't you see? Now? What's the matter with that hanted room?
How why it's hanted with whiskey?Maybe all the temperance taverns have got
a hanted room. Hey, Huck, Well, I reckon. Maybe that's
so. Who'd have thought such athing? But say Tom, now is
(09:20):
a mighty good time to get thatbox. If Injun Joe's drunk, it
is that you try it. Huckshuddered. Well, no, I reckon
not, and I reckon not,Huck, Only one bottle alongside of Injun
Joe ain't enough. If there'd beenthree, he'd be drunk enough, and
I'd do it. There was along pause for reflection, and then Tom
said, look here, Huck,let's not try that thing anymore till we
(09:43):
know Injun Joe's not in there.It's too scary. Now. If we
watch every night, we'll be deadsure to see him go out sometime or
other and then we'll snatch that boxquicker and lightning. Well, I'm agreed.
I'll watch the whole night long,and I'll do it every night too,
if you'll do the other part ofthe job, all right, I
will. All you got to dois to trot up Hooper Street a block
(10:05):
and mow, and if I'm asleep, you throw some gravel at the window
and that'll fetch me. Agreed,and good as wheat. Now, Huck,
the storm's over and I'll go home. It'll begin to be daylight in
a couple hours. You go backand watch that long, will you?
I said I would, Tom,and I will. I'll haunt that tavern
every night for a year. I'llsleep all day and I'll stand watch all
(10:26):
night. That's all right. Now? Where are you going to sleep?
In? Ben rogers hayloft? Helets me, and so does his paps,
nigger man Uncle Jake. I totewater for Uncle Jake whenever he wants
me to, and anytime I askhim, he gives me a little something
to eat if he can spare it. That's a mighty good nigger, Tom.
He likes me because I don't everact as if I was above him.
(10:50):
Sometimes I've set right down and eatwith him. But you needn't tell
that. A body's got to dothings when he's awful hungry, he wouldn't
want to do as a steady thing. Well, if I don't want you
in the daytime, i'll let yousleep. I won't come bothering around.
Anytime you see something's up in thenight, just skip right around and mount.
End of chapter twenty eight.
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