Chapters 33 to 35 - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain

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Episode Transcript

(00:00):
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by MarkTwain, Chapter thirty three, The Fate
of Injun Joe. Within a fewminutes, the news had spread, and
a dozen skiff loads of men wereon their way to McDougall's cave, and
the ferry boat well filled with passengerssoon followed. Tom Sawyer was in a
skiff that bore Judge Thatcher. Whenthe cave door was unlocked, a sorrowful

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sight presented itself in the dim twilightof the place. Injun Joe lay stretched
upon the ground, dead, withhis face close to the crack of the
door, as if his longing eyeshad been fixed to the latest moment upon
the light and the cheer of thefree world outside. Tom was touched,
for he knew by his own experiencehow this wretch had suffered. His pity

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was moved, but nevertheless he feltan a bounding sense of relief and security
now which revealed to him, ina degree which he had not fully appreciated
before, how vast a weight ofdread had been upon him since the day
he lifted his voice against this bloody, minded outcast. Injun Joe's bowie knife
lay close by, its blade brokenin two the great foundation beam of the

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door had been chipped and hacked throughwith tedious labor. Useless labor too,
it was, for the native rockformed a sill outside it, and upon
that stubborn material the knife had wroughtno effect. The only damage done was
to the knife itself. But ifthere had been no stony obstruction there,
the labor would have been useless still, For if the beam had been wholly

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cut away injun Joe could not havesqueezed his body under the door, and
he knew it. So he hadonly hacked that place in order to be
doing something, in order to passthe weary time, in order to employ
his tortured faculties. Ordinarily one couldfind half a dozen bits of candle stuck
around in the crevices of this vestibule, left there by tourists, but there

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were none now. The prisoner hadthem out and eaten them. He had
also contrived to catch a few bats, and these also he had eaten,
leaving only their claws. The poorunfortunate had starved to death. In one
place near at Hand, a stalakmte had been slowly growing up from the
ground for ages builded by the waterdrip from a stalactite overhead. The captive

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had broken off the stalac mighte,and upon the stump had placed a stone,
wherein he had scooped a shallow hollowto catch the precious drop that fell
once in every three minutes, withthe dreary regularity of a clock tick a
dessert spoonful once in four and twentyhours. That drop was falling when the
pyramids were new, when Troy fell, when the foundations of Rome were laid,

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when Christ was crucified, when theconqueror created the British Empire, when
Columbus sailed, when the massacre atLexington was news. It is falling now,
it will still be falling when allthese things shall have sunk down the
afternoon of history and the twilight tradition, and been swallowed up in the thick
night of oblivion. Has everything apurpose and a mission? Did this drop

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fall patiently during five thousand years tobe ready for this flitting human insect's need?
And has it another important object toaccomplish ten thousand years to come?
No matter? It is many andmany a year since the hapless half breed
scooped out the stone to catch thepriceless drops, but to this day,
the tourist stairs longest at that patheticstone and that slow dropping water when he

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comes to see the wonders of McDougall'scave. Injun Joe's cup stands first in
the list of the cavern's marvels.Even Aladdin's Palace cannot rival it. Injun
Joe was buried near the mouth ofthe cave, and people flocked there in
boats and wagons from the towns andfrom all the farms and hamlets for seven
miles around. They brought their childrenand all sorts of provisions, and confessed

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that they had had almost a satisfactorya time at the funeral as they could
have had at the hanging. Thisfuneral stopped the further growth of one thing,
the petition to the governor for injunJoe's pardon. The petition had been
largely signed, many tearful and eloquentmeetings had been held, and a committee
of sappy women been appointed to goin deep mourning and wail around the governor

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and implore him to be a mercifulass and trample his duty under foot.
Injun Joe was believed to have killedfive citizens of the village, But what
of that if he had been Satanhimself, there would have been plenty of
weaklings ready to scribble their names toa pardon petition and drip a tear on
it from their permanently impaired and leakywater works. The morning after the funeral,

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Tom took Huck to a private placeto have an important talk. Huck
had learned all about Tom's adventure fromthe Welshman and the widow Douglas by this
time, but Tom said he reckonedthere was one thing they had not told
him. That thing was what hewanted to talk about now. Huck's face
saddened, he said, I knowwhat it is. You got into number
two and never found anything but whiskey. Nobody told me it was you,

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but I just knowed it must havebeen you as soon as I heard bout
that whiskey business, and I knowedyou hadn't got the money, because you'd
have got it me somewhere or other. And told me, even if you
was Mum to everybody else, Tom, something's always told me we'd never get
hold of that swag. Why,Huck, I never told on that tavern

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keeper. You know his tavern wasall right. The saturday I went to
the picnic. Don't you remember youwas to watch there that night? Oh?
Yes, why it seems about ayear ago. It was that very
night that I followed Injun Joe tothe Widders. You followed him, yes,
but you keep mum. I reckon, Injun Joe's left friends behind him,
and I don't want them sorein onme an doin' me mean tricks.

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If it hadn't been for me,he'd be down in Texas now, all
right? Then Huck told his entireadventure and confidence to Tom, who'd only
heard of the Welshman's part of itbefore. Well, said Huck, presently,
coming back to the main question.Whoever nipped the whiskey? And Number
two nipped the money too? Ireckon anyway, it's a goner for us,
Tom Hack. That money wasn't everin Number two? What? Huck

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searched his comrade's face. Keenly,Tom, have you got on the track
of that money again? Hack?It's in the cave. Huck's eyes blazed.
Say it again, Tom, themoney's in the cave, Tom,
honest engine? Now is it funor earnest? Earnest Hack? Just as
earnest as ever I was in mylife. Will you go in there with

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me and help me get it out? I bet I will. I will.
If it's where, we can blazeour way to it and not get
lost. Hawk. We can dothat without the least little bit of trouble
in the world. Good as wheat. What makes you think the money's hack?
You just wait till we get inthere. If we don't find it,
I'll agree to give you my drumand everything I've got in the world.
I will buy jings. All right, it's a whiz. When do

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you say right now? If yousay it, are you strong enough?
Is it far in the cave onmy pins? A little three four days
now? But I can't walk morethan a mile Tom, at least,
I don't think I could. It'sabout five mile into there the way.
Anybody but me would go huck,But there's a mighty shortcut that they don't
anybody but me know about. Huck. I'll take you right to it in

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a skiff. I'll float the skiffdown there, and i'll pull it back
again, all by myself. Youneedn't ever turn your hand over. Let's
start right off, Tom, allright, we want some bread and meat
in our pipes and little bag ortwo and two or three kite strings,
and some of these new fangled thingsthey call lucifer matches. I tell you
many of the time I wished Ihad some. When I was in there

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before a trifle afternoon, the boysborrowed a small skiff from a citizen who
was absent, and got underway atonce. When they were several miles below
Cave Hollow, Tom said, nowyou see this bluff here, looks all
alike all the way down from theCave Hollow. No houses, no woodyards,
bushes all alike. But do yousee that white place up there where

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there's been a landslide. Well,that's one of my marks. We'll get
shore now they landed. Now,Huck, where we're a stand, and
you could touch that hole I gotout of with a fishing pole. See
if you can find it. Hucksearched all the place about and found nothing.
Tom proudly marched into a thick clumpof sumac bushes and said, here

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you are. Look at it,Huck. It's the snuggish hole in this
country. You just keep mum aboutit all along. I've been wanted to
be a robber, but I knewI'd got to have a thing like this,
and where to run across it wasthe bother. We've got it now,
and we'll keep it quiet. Onlywe'll let Joe Harper and Ben Rogers
in because of course there's got tobe a gang, or else there wouldn't

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be any style about it. TomSawyer's gang. It sounds splendid, dull
huck Well, it just does,Tom. And who we rob? Oh,
most anybody wade lay people. That'smostly the way. And kill them,
no, not always hive them inthe cave till they raise a ransom.
What's a ransom money? You makethem raise all they can, often

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their friends, and after you keptthem a year, if it ain't raised,
then you kill them. That's thegeneral way. Only you don't kill
the women. You shut up thewomen, but you don't kill them.
They're always beautiful and rich and awfullyscared. You take their watches and things,
but you always take your hat offand talk polite. They ain't anybody
as plight as robbers. You'll seethat in any book. Well, the

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women get to loving you, andafter they've been in the cave a week
or two weeks, they stopped crying. And after that you couldn't get them
to leave. If you drove themout, they'd turn right around come back.
It's so in all the books.Why it's really bully, Tom,
I believe it's better and to bea pirate. Yes, it's better in
some ways because it's close to homeand circuses and all that. By this

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time everything was ready, and theboys entered the hole, Tom in the
lead. They toiled their way tothe farther end of the tunnel, then
made their spliced kite strings fast andmoved on. A few steps brought them
to the ring, and Tom felta shudder quiver all through him. He
showed Huck the fragment of Candlewick perchedon a lump of clay against the wall,
and described how he and Becky hadwatched the flame struggle and expire.

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The boys began to quiet down towhispers now, for the stillness and gloom
of the place oppressed their spirits.They went on and presently entered and followed
Tom's other corridors until they reached thejumping off place. The candles revealed the
fact that it was not really aprecipice, but only a steep clay hill
twenty or thirty feet high. Tomwhispered, Now I'll show you something,

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Huck. He held his candle aloftand said, look as far round the
corner as you can. Do yousee that there on the big rock over
yonder down with a candle smoke,Tom, it's a cross. Now,
where's your number two? Under thecross? Hey? Right yonders where I
saw Indian Joe poke up his candle, Huck. Huck stared at the mystic

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sign awhile, and then said,with a shaky voice, Tom, let's
get out o here. What anleave the treasure? Yes, leave it.
Injun Joe's ghost is round about.They're certain. No it ain't,
Huck, No it ain't. Itwould haunt the place where he died,
way out at the mouth of thecave, five miles from here. No,

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Tom, it wouldn't. It wouldhang around the money. I know
the ways of ghosts, an,so do you. Tom began to fear
that Huck was right. Misgivings gatheredin his mind, but presently an idea
occurred to him. Look here,Tuck, what fools we're makin of ourselves?
Injun Joe's ghost ain't a goin tocome round where there's a cross?
The point was well taken. Ithad its effect. Tom, I didn't

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think that, but that's so it'sluck for us. That cross is I
reckon. We'll climb down there anhave a hunt for that box. Tom
went first, cutting rude steps inthe clay hill. As he descended,
Huck followed. Four avenues opened outof the small cavern which the great rocks
stood in. The boys examined threeof them with no result. They found
a small recess in the one nearestthe base of the rock, with a

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pallet of blankets spread down in it, also an old suspender, some bacon
rind, and the well gnawed bonesof two or three fowls, but there
was no money box. The ladssearched and researched this place, but in
vain. Tom said, he said, under the cross. Well, this
comes nearest being under the cross.It can't be under the rock itself,

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because that sets solid on the ground. They searched everywhere once more, and
then sat down, discouraged. Huckcould suggest nothing, Bye and bye.
Tom said, lookye here, Huck, there's footprints and some candle grease on
the clay about one side of thisrock, but not on the other sides.
Now what's that for. I betyou the money is under the rock.

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I'm going to dig in the clay. That ain't no bad notion,
Tom said Huck with animation. Tom'sreal barlow was out at once, and
he had not dug four inches beforehe struck wood. Hey, Huck,
you hear that? Huck began todig and scratch. Now. Some boards
were soon uncovered and removed. Theyhad concealed a natural chasm which led under
the rock. Tom got into thisand held his candle as far into the

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rock as he could, but saidhe could not see to the end of
the rift he proposed to explore.He stooped and passed under. The narrow
way descended gradually. He followed itswinding course, first to the right and
then to the left, Huck athis heels. Tom turned a short curve
by and by and exclaimed, mygoodness, Huck, looky here it was

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the treasure box, sure enough,occupying a snug little cavern, along with
an empty powder keg, a coupleof guns and leather cases, two or
three pairs of old moccasins, aleather belt, and some other rubbish well
soaked with a water drip. Gotit at last, said Huck, plowing
among the tarnished coins with his hands. My but we're rich, Tom,

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Huck, I always reckon we'd getit. It's just too good to believe.
But we have got it. Sure, say, let's not fool around
here. Let's snake it out.Let me see if we can lift the
box. It weighed about fifty pounds. Tom could lift it after an awkward
fashion, but could not carry itconveniently, I thought so, he said.

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They carried it like it was heavy. That day at the hunted House.
I noticed that I reckon, Iwas right to think of fetching the
little bags along. The money wassoon in the bags, and the boys
took it up to the cross rock. Now let's fetch the guns and things,
said Huck. No, Huck,leave them there. They're just the
tricks to have when you go torobbing. We'll keep them there all the
time, and we'll hold our orgiesthere too. It's an awful snug place

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for orgies. What's orgies, Idon't know, but robbers always have orgies,
and of course we've got to havethem too. Come along, Huck,
we've been in here a long time. It's getting late. I reckon,
I'm hungry too. We'll eat andsmoke when we get to the skiff.
They presently emerged into the clump ofsumac bushes, looked warily about,
found coast clear, and were soonlunching and smoking in the skiff. As

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the sun dipped toward the horizon,they pushed out and got under way.
Tom skimmed up the shore through thelong twilight, chatting cheerily with Huck,
and landed shortly after dark. Now, Huck said Tom, we'll hide the
money in the loft of the wider'swoodshed, and I'll come up in the
morning and we'll count it and divideit, and then we'll hunt up a
place out in the woods for itwhere it will be safe. Just you

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lay quiet here and watch the stufftill I run up and hook Benny Taylor's
little wagon. I won't be gonea minute. He disappeared and presently returned
with the wagon, put the twosmall sacks into it, threw some old
rags on top of them, andstarted off, dragging his cargo behind him.
When the boys reached the Welshman's house, they stopped to rest. Just

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as they were about to move onthe Welshman stepped out and said, hello,
who's that? Huck? And TomSawyer? Good? Come along with
me, boys, you are keepingeverybody waiting here. Hurry up, trot
ahead, I'll haul the wagon foryou. Why it's not as light as
it might be? Cut bricks init or old metal? Old metal?
Said Tom. I judge, sothe boys in this town will take more

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trouble and fool away more time huntingup six bits worth of old iron to
sell to the foundry than they wouldto make twice the money at regular work.
But that's human nature. Hurry long, hurrylong. The boys wanted to
know what the hurry was about.Never mind, you'll see when we get
to the widow. Douglas's Huck said, with some apprehension, for he was
long used to being falsely accused.Mister Jones, we haven't been doing nothing,

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The Welshman laughed. Well, Idon't know, Huck, my boy,
I don't know about that. Ain'tyou and the widow good friends?
Yes? Well she's been good friendsto me anyways. All right, then,
what do you want to be fraidfor? This question was not entirely
answered in Huck's slow mine before hefound himself pushed along with Tom into Missus
Douglas's drawing room. Mister Jones leftthe wagon near the door and followed.

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The place was grandly lighted, andeverybody that was of any consequence in the
village was there. The Thatchers werethere, the Harpers, the Rogers's aunt,
Polly, sid Mary, the minister, the editor, and a great
many more, and all dressed intheir best. The widow received the boys
as hardly as anyone could well receivetwo such looking beings. They were covered

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with clay and candle grease. AuntPolly blushed Crimson with humiliation, and frowned
and shook her head at Tom.Nobody suffered half as much as the two
boys did. However, mister Jonessaid, Tom wasn't at home yet,
so I gave him up. ButI stumbled on him and hucked right at
my door. And so I justbrought them along in a hurry. And
you did just right, said thewidow. Come with me, boys.

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She took them to a bedchamber andsaid, now wash and dress yourselves.
Here are two new suits of clothes, shirts, socks, everything complete.
There, Hucks, no, nothanks, huck. Mister Jones bought one
and I the other. But they'llfit both of you. Get into them.
We'll wait, come down when youare slicked up enough. Then she
left. End of chapter thirty three, Chapter thirty four, Floods of Gold.

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Huck said, Tom, we canslope if we can find a rope.
The window ain't high from the ground. Chucks, what do you want
to slope for? Well, Iain't used to that kind of crowd.
I can't stand it. I ain'tgoing down there, Tom, oh bother,
ain't anything. I don't mind ita bit. I'll take care of
you. Sit appeared, Tom said, he Auntie has been waiting for you

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all the afternoon. Mary got yourSunday clothes ready, and everybody's been fretting
about you. Say, ain't thisgrease and clay on your clothes? Now?
Mister City, you just tend toyour own business. What's all this
blowout about? Anyway? It's oneof the widow's parties that she's always having.
This time it's for the Welshman andhis sons on account of that scrape

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they helped her out of the othernight. And say, I can tell
you something if you want to know, Well what why old mister Jones is
going to try to spring something onthe people here tonight. But I overheard
him tell Auntie today about it asa secret. But I reckon it's not
much of a secret now. Everybodyknows the widow too, for all she
tries to let on she don't.Mister Jones was bound Huck should be here.

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Couldn't get along with his grand secretwithout Huck. You know secret about
what Sid about Huck tracking the robbersto the widows. I reckon mister Jones
was going to make a grand timeover his surprise. But I bet you
it will drop pretty flat, saidChuckled in a very contented and satisfied way.
Said was it you that told?Oh, never mind who it was.

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Somebody told that's enough, Sid.There's only one person in this town
mean enough to do that, andthat's you. If you'd been in Huck's
place, you'd to sneak down thehill and never told anybody on the robbers.
You can't do any but mean things, and you can't bear to see
anybody prays for doing good ones.There no thanks, as the widow says,

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and Tom cuffed Sid's ears and helpedhim to the door with several kicks.
Now, go and tell Audie ifyou dare, and tomorrow you'll catch
it. Some minutes later, thewidow's guests were at the supper table,
and a dozen children were propped upat little side tables in the same room,
after the fashion of that country,and that day, at the proper
time, mister Jones made his littlespeech, in which he thanked the widow

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for the honor she was doing himselfand his sons, but said that there
was another person whose modesty, andso forth and so on. He sprung
his secret about Huck's share in theadventure in the finest dramatic manner he was
master of, but the surprise atoccasion was largely counterfeit, and not as
clamorous and effusive as it might havebeen under happier circumstances. However, the

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widow made a pretty fair show ofastonishment, and heaped so many compliments and
so much gratitude upon Huck that healmost forgot the nearly intolerable discomfort of his
new clothes, in the entirely intolerablediscomfort of being set up as a target
for everybody's gaye is in everybody's laudations. The widow said she meant to give
Huck a home under her roof andhave him educated, and that when she

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could spare the money, she wouldstart him in business in a modest way.
Tom's chance was come. He said, Huck don't need it. Huck's
rich. Nothing but a heavy strainupon The good manners of the company kept
back the dow and proper complimentary laughat this pleasant joke, but the silence
was a little awkward. Tom brokeit, Huck's got money. Maybe you

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don't believe it, but he's gotlots of it. Oh, you needn't
smile, I reckon, I canshow you you just wait a minute.
Tom ran out of doors. Thecompany looked at each other with a perplexed
interest, and inquiringly at Huck,who was tongue tied. See it what
ails? Tom said, Aunt Polly. He well, there ain't ever any
making of that boy out I neverTom entered, struggling with the weight of

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his sacks, and Aunt Polly didnot finish her sentence. Tom poured the
mass of yellow coins upon the table, said there, what did I tell
you? Half of its hucks andhalf of its mine. The spectacle took
the general breath away. All gazed. Nobody spoke for a moment. Then
there was a unanimous call for anexplanation. Tom said he could furnish it,

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and he did. The tale waslong, but brim full of interest.
There was scarcely an interruption from anyone to break the charm of its
flow. When he had finished,mister Jones said, I thought I had
fixed up a little surprise for thisoccasion, but it don't amount to anything.
Now. This one makes it singmighty small. I'm willing to allow.

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The money was counted. The sumamounted to a little over twelve thousand
dollars. It was more than anyonepresent had ever seen at one time before,
though several persons were there who wereworth considerably more than that. In
property end of chapter thirty four,Chapter thirty five, Respectable Huck joins the

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gang. The reader may rest satisfiedthat Tom's and Huck's windfall made a mighty
stir. In the poor little villageof Saint Petersburg. So vast a sum,
all in actual cash, seemed nextto incredible. It was talked about,
gloated over glorified, until the reasonof many of the citizens tottered under
the strain of the unhealthy excitement.Every haunted house in Saint Petersburg and the

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neighboring villages was dissected plank by plank, and its foundations dug up and ransacked
for hidden treasure. And not byboys, but men, pretty grave,
unromantic men too, some of them. Wherever Tom and Huck appeared, they
were courted, admired, stared at. The boys were not able to remember
that their remarks had possessed weight before, but now their sayings were treasured and

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repeated. Everything they did seemed somehowto be regarded as remarkable. They had
evidently lost the power of doing andsaying commonplace things. Moreover, their past
history was raked up and discovered tobear marks of conspicuous originality. The village
paper published biographical sketches of the boys. The widow Douglas put Huck's money out

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at six percent, and Judge Thatcherdid the same with Tom's, at Aunt
Polly's request. Each lad had anincome now that was simply prodigious, a
dollar for every week day in theyear, and half of the sundays.
It was just what the minister got, No, it was what he was
promised. He generally couldn't collect ita dollar and a quarter a week would
board, lodge and school a boyin those old simple days, and clothe

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him and wash him too. Forthat matter, Judge Thatcher had conceived a
great opinion of Tom. He saidthat no commonplace boy would ever have got
his daughter out of the cave.When Becky told her father in strict confidence,
how Tom had taken her whipping atschool, the judge was visibly moved,
And when she pleaded grace for themighty lie which Tom had told in
order to shift that whipping from hershoulders to his own, the Judge said,

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with a fine outburst that it wasa noble interest, a magnanimous lie,
a lie that was worthy to holdup its head, and marched down
through history breast to breast with GeorgeWashington's lauded truth about the hatchet. Becky
thought her father had never looked sotall and so superb as when he walked

(25:17):
the floor and stamped his foot,and said that she went straight off and
told Tom about it. Judge Thatcherhoped to see Tom a great lawyer or
a great soldier some day. Hesaid he meant to look to it that
Tom should be admitted to the Nationalmilitary academy, and afterward trained in the
best law school in the country,in order that he might be ready for
either career or both. Huck Finn'swealth and the fact that he was now

(25:40):
under the Widow Douglas's protection, introducedhim into society. No dragged him into
it, hurled him into it,and his sufferings were almost more than he
could bear. The widow's servants kepthim clean and neat, combed and brushed,
and they betted him nightly in unsympatheticsheets that had not one little spot
or stain which he could press tohis heart and know for a friend.

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He had to eat with knife andfork, and had to use napkin,
cup and plate. He had tolearn his book. He had to go
to church. He had to talkso properly that speech was become insipid in
his mouth. Whithersoever he turned.The bars and shackles of civilization shut him
in and bound him hand and foot. He bravely bore his miseries three weeks,

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and then one day turned up missingfor at forty eight hours. The
widow hunted for him everywhere in greatdistress. The public were profoundly concerned.
They searched high and low, theydragged the river for his body. Early
the third morning, Tom Sawyer wiselywent poking among some old empty hogsheads down
behind the abandoned slaughter house, andin one of them he found the refugee

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Huck had slept there. He hadjust breakfast upon some stolen odds and ends
of food, and was lying offnow in comfort with his pipe. He
was unkempt, uncombed, and cladin the same old ruin of rags that
had made him picturesque in the dayswhen he was free and happy. Tom
routed him out, told him thetrouble he had been causing, and urged
him to go home. Huck's facelost its tranquil content and took a melancholy

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cast, and he said, don'ttalk about it, Tom. I've tried
it and it don't work. Itdon't work, Tom, It ain't for
me. I ain't used to it. The Witer's good to me and friendly,
but I can't stand them ways.She makes me get up just at
the same time every morning, shemakes me wash, They comb me all

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to thunder. She won't let mesleep in the woodshed. I got to
wear them blamed clothes that just smothersme, Tom. They don't seem to
let any air get through him somehow, and they're so rotten nice that I
can't set down, nor lay down, nor roll around anywheres. I ain't
slid on a cellar door for well, it's peers to be years. I

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got to go to church and sweatand sweat. I hate them ordinary sermons.
I can't catch a fly in there, I can't chaw. I got
to wear choose all Sunday. Thewider eats by a bell, she goes
to bed by a bell, shegets up by a bell. Everything's so
awful regular a body can't stand it. Well, everybody does that, huck
Tom. It don't make no difference. I ain't everybody, and I can't

(28:15):
stand it. It's awful to betied up so and grub comes too easy.
I don't take no interest in victualsthat way. I got to ask
to go a fishing, I gotto ask to go in a swimming durned
if I hain't got to ask todo everything, well, I've got to
talk so nice. It wasn't nocomfort. I'd got to go up in
the attic and rip out a whileevery day to get a taste in my

(28:37):
mouth or I'd have died. Tom. The widow wouldn't let me smoke,
She wouldn't let me yell. Shewouldn't let me gape, nor stretch,
nor scratch before folks. Then witha spasm of special irritation and injury and
dead fetch it, she prayed allthe time. I never see such a
woman. I had to shove,Tom, I just to And besides,

(29:00):
that school is going to open,and i'd have got to go to it.
Well, I wouldn't stand that,Tom. Look here, Tom,
being rich ain't what it's cracked upto be. It's just worry and worry
and sweat and sweat and a wishinyou was dead all the time. Now,
these clothes suits me, and thisbarrel suits me, and I ain't
ever going to shake him anymore.Tom, I wouldn't ever got into all

(29:22):
this trouble if it hadn't been forthat money. Now, you just take
my share of it along with urine, and give me a ten center sometimes
not many times, because I don'tgive a dern for a thing thout it's
tolerable, hard to get, andyou go and beg off for me with
a widder oh, Hocke, youknow I can't do that. It tain't
fair. Besides, if you'll trythis thing just a while longer, you'll

(29:45):
come to like it. Like it, yes, the way I'd like a
hot stove if I was to seton it long enough. No, Tom,
I won't be rich, and Iwon't live in them cusset smothery houses.
I like the woods and the riverand hogsheads, and I'll stick to
him too, blame it all.Just as we've got guns in a cave

(30:06):
and all just fixed to rob here, this durned foolishness has got to come
up and spile it all. Tomsaw his opportunity. Look here, Huck,
being rich ain't going to keep meback from turning robber. No,
oh good, looks are you inreal deadwood? Earnest Tom? Just as
dead Earnest as I'm a sitting here. But Huck, we can't let you

(30:27):
into the gang if you ain't respectable. You know, Huck's joy was quenched.
Can't let me in, Tom.Didn't you let me go for a
pirate? Yes, but that's different. A robber is more high toned than
what a pirate is. As ageneral thing. In most countries, they're
awful high up in the nobility dukesand such. Now, Tom, hain't

(30:48):
you always been friendly to me?You wouldn't have shut me out, would
you? Tom? You wouldn't dothat, now, would you, Tom?
Huck? I wouldn't want to,and I don't want to. But
what would people say? Why?They'd say Tom Sawyer's gang pretty low characters
in it. They'd mean you,Huck. You wouldn't like that, and
I wouldn't. Huck was silent forsome time, engaged in a mental struggle,

(31:14):
and finally he said, well,I'll go back to the Widder for
a month and tackle it and seeif I can come to stand it,
if you'll let me belong to thegang. Tom, all right, Huck,
it's a whiz. Come along,old Chap, and I'll ask the
Widder to let up on you alittle, Huck, will you, Tom?
Now? Will you? That's good? If she'll let up on some
of the roughest things. I'll smokeprivate and cuss private, and crowd through

(31:37):
or bust when you're going to startthe gang and turn robbers. Oh,
right off. We'll get the boystogether and have the initiation tonight. Maybe
have the witch, have the initiation. What's that? It's to swear to
stand by one another and never tellthe gang's secrets, even if you're chopped
all to flinders and kill anybody andall his family that hurts one of the

(32:00):
gang. That's gay. That's mightygay, Tom, I tell you,
well, I bet it is.And all that swearing's got to be done
at midnight in the lonesomest, awfulestplace you can find. A haunted house
is the best, and they're allripped up. Now, Well, midnight's
good anyway, Tom, Yes,so it is. And you've got to
swear on a coffin and sign itwith blood. Now that's something like why.

(32:24):
It's a million times bullier than pirating. I'll stick to the wider till
I wrot, Tom. And ifI get to be regular ripper of a
robber and everybody talking about it,I reckon she'll be proud she snaked me
in out of the wet conclusion.So endeth this chronicle. It being strictly

(32:45):
a history of a boy, itmust stop here. The story could not
go much further without becoming the historyof a man. When one writes a
novel about grown people, he knowsexactly where to stop, that is,
with a marriage. But when hewrites of juveniles, he must stop where
he best can. Most of thecharacters that perform in this book still live

(33:09):
and are prosperous and happy. Someday it may seem worth while to take
up the story of the younger onesagain and see what sort of men and
women they turned out to be.Therefore, it will be wisest not to
reveal any of that part of theirlives at present. The end. This
is the end of the Adventures ofTom Sawyer by Mark Twain.