I was bored on the island, so I went for a adventure back in town. Jim and I founded all these clothes and stuff, so I used that to disguise myself as a girl. Jim and I practiced my walk and talk and how to do other girlish manners. I rowed to town on the canoe, and had to tie it up myself. When I got in town, I didn't know where to go. I was so nervous someone was a-going to see me and know I am Huck Finn and not dead. Then what if they had told Pap, I wouldn't walk this earth no more.
I went to a house close to the river, and when the door opened I saw someone I didn't recognize. Now I knowed about everyone in that there town, and I ain't never seen her. I says my name was Sarah Williams and I come from Hookerville. I was walking seven mile to tell my Uncle Abner Moore my mother was sick.
The woman clattered along. She says this and that about different peoples, and then she said my name! I asked her who done it to me, and shes says people in the town thinks it was Pap who done it to me! I was so happy that my plan had worked. But then she says that Pap had vanished, and people in the town heard that Miss Watson's Jim had run off the same night I was killed, and they put it on him. Sometime during this Pap caught wind that they says Jim done it, and he comes back asking Judge Thatcher for my money. She says too that Jim has three hundred on him, and many people are searching for him to get the money.
I had to get back t' the island to tell Jim and get away from there, but before I could the woman caught me not knowin' my name that I gave her. She asked me agian and I says Mary Williams, not Sarah Williams. Then she tells me to kill a rat for her, and throws lead in my lap. She knew I was a boy. But she didn't know I was Huck Finn.
I Spare Miss Watson's Jim
I hurt for Jim when I found him. He had been hiding on the island since the day i was 'killed' and he hadn't eat no bread or meat. All he eat was strawberries and such truck. I reckonded he coulda eat a hoss if I got one for him. After I found him we went back to my camp and while he built a fire in the grassy plain I fetched meal and bacon and coffee, and coffee-pot and frying pan, and sugar and tin cups, and the nigger was set back considerable because he reckonded it was all done with witchcraft. I catched a good big cat fish, too, and Jim cleaned it with his knife, and fried him.
When I found Jim I was so scared. Afer hiding in the tree tops all night, I went searching in the coods on the island for the campfire I had found, stopping every minute or so to listen for sounds. By and by, sure enough, I caught a glimpse of a fire off in the distance. I went towards it with cautious, and by and by I got close enough to have a look. There laid a man with a blanket around his head. I sat there in the bushes for a while to see who it was and if I should run off. Suddenly he hoved off the blanket and stretched and it was Miss Watson's Jim. I bet I was glad to see him!
When Jim saw me he thinks I was dead, a ghost. I didn't know how he got there too, so we talked for a bit. I told him that I warn't dead. I told him the whole story too. He said Tom Sawyer couldn't get no better plan than that. I asked him why Miss Watson had him at the island. He says he run off! Run off! I hadn't met no runaway nigger b'fore. But he says Miss Watson was goin' to sell him even though she says she never would. He was so scared I was going to tell people that he had run off, but I said I wouldn't tell. People would call me a Abolitionist and depise me for keeping mum, but I don't care none. I ain't a-going to tell and I ain't a-going back there.
When I found Jim I was so scared. Afer hiding in the tree tops all night, I went searching in the coods on the island for the campfire I had found, stopping every minute or so to listen for sounds. By and by, sure enough, I caught a glimpse of a fire off in the distance. I went towards it with cautious, and by and by I got close enough to have a look. There laid a man with a blanket around his head. I sat there in the bushes for a while to see who it was and if I should run off. Suddenly he hoved off the blanket and stretched and it was Miss Watson's Jim. I bet I was glad to see him!
When Jim saw me he thinks I was dead, a ghost. I didn't know how he got there too, so we talked for a bit. I told him that I warn't dead. I told him the whole story too. He said Tom Sawyer couldn't get no better plan than that. I asked him why Miss Watson had him at the island. He says he run off! Run off! I hadn't met no runaway nigger b'fore. But he says Miss Watson was goin' to sell him even though she says she never would. He was so scared I was going to tell people that he had run off, but I said I wouldn't tell. People would call me a Abolitionist and depise me for keeping mum, but I don't care none. I ain't a-going to tell and I ain't a-going back there.
I Fool Pap and Get Away
Pap almost caught me this morning. he asked me what I was doin' with his gun real sour. I judged he didn't know nothing about what he had been doing the last night, so I lied. I says somebody tried to get into the cabin while he was asleep and wouldn't wake. He believed me.
Pap let me out of the cabin. I cleared up the river bank. I knowed the river had begun to rise. I reckonded I would have great times now if I was over at the town. Catching and selling cardwood floating down the river with Tom and the gang.
I went along the bank a little when all at once here comes a canoe. A beauty, too. I shot head-first off of the bank like a frog and struck for the canoe. I just thought there may be a something in there. But it weren't so this time. It was a drift wood canoe sure enough, and I climed in and paddled her ashore. Thinks I, the old man will be glad when he sees this-she's worth ten dollars. But then I judged I'd hide her good, and then 'stead of taking to the woods when I run off, I'd go down the river about her.
I says to myself later, I can fix it now so nobody won't think of following me.
Before Pap was t'other side the river, i was out of the hole I had made. I took a sack of corn meal, a sack of bacon, the whiskey jug then all the coffee and suger there was. I took the bucket and gourd, took a dipper and tin cup, and my old saw and two blankets. I fetched out the gun and I was done.
I had wore the ground crawling out the hole and dragging out so many things. I took the gun and went hunting for some birds when I saw a wild hog. I shot him and took him into camp. Then I took an axe to the door, brought the pig in, hacked his throat and let him bleed on the ground. WEll, next I took an old sack and put a lot of rocks in it- all that I could drag- and dragged it down to the river and dumped it. You could easy see that something had been dragged over the ground. I did wish Tom Sawyer was there; I knowed he would take an interest in this kind of business.
Pap let me out of the cabin. I cleared up the river bank. I knowed the river had begun to rise. I reckonded I would have great times now if I was over at the town. Catching and selling cardwood floating down the river with Tom and the gang.
I went along the bank a little when all at once here comes a canoe. A beauty, too. I shot head-first off of the bank like a frog and struck for the canoe. I just thought there may be a something in there. But it weren't so this time. It was a drift wood canoe sure enough, and I climed in and paddled her ashore. Thinks I, the old man will be glad when he sees this-she's worth ten dollars. But then I judged I'd hide her good, and then 'stead of taking to the woods when I run off, I'd go down the river about her.
I says to myself later, I can fix it now so nobody won't think of following me.
Before Pap was t'other side the river, i was out of the hole I had made. I took a sack of corn meal, a sack of bacon, the whiskey jug then all the coffee and suger there was. I took the bucket and gourd, took a dipper and tin cup, and my old saw and two blankets. I fetched out the gun and I was done.
I had wore the ground crawling out the hole and dragging out so many things. I took the gun and went hunting for some birds when I saw a wild hog. I shot him and took him into camp. Then I took an axe to the door, brought the pig in, hacked his throat and let him bleed on the ground. WEll, next I took an old sack and put a lot of rocks in it- all that I could drag- and dragged it down to the river and dumped it. You could easy see that something had been dragged over the ground. I did wish Tom Sawyer was there; I knowed he would take an interest in this kind of business.
Our Gang's Dark Oath
Tom always wants to risk it. It was good to hear "Mee-yow! Mee-yow!" But I knows that mean trouble. Don't think wrong, I like goin' out at night with Tom, but I know it ain't always good. He wants to tie Jim up to the tree for fun. I said no-he might wake and make a disturbance. Tom wanted to resk it. So I let Tom play something on Jim, just not tie him up. Tom said he slipped Jim's hat off of his head and hung it on a limb right over him and Jim stirred a little, but he didn't wake.
Jim thought witches bewitched him and put him in a trance and rode him all over the state. Jim was monstorous proud about it, as he told everyone to New Orleans. Niggers would come miles to hear Jim, and he was more looked up to than any other nigger in that country. All thanks to Tom.
Tom Sawyer is a mighty friend. He loves adventures. He started a band and called it Tom Sawyer's Gang. Everybody that wanted to join had got to take an oath and write his name in blood. We musn't tell band secrets, or we must have our throats cut. Anybody done aything to a boy in the band, whichever boy was ordered to kill that person and his family, and hack a cross in his chest, the sign of the band.
I thought it was a beautiful oath. Then Ben Rogers says:"Here's Huck Finn, he ain't got no family; what you gonna do 'bout him?" They talked it over and nearly ruled me out on account of my father being a drunk. They said every boy must have a family or someone to kill, or else it wouldn't be fair and square for everyone. I was most ready to cry, but then I offered up Miss WAtson, and they said she would do.
Jim thought witches bewitched him and put him in a trance and rode him all over the state. Jim was monstorous proud about it, as he told everyone to New Orleans. Niggers would come miles to hear Jim, and he was more looked up to than any other nigger in that country. All thanks to Tom.
Tom Sawyer is a mighty friend. He loves adventures. He started a band and called it Tom Sawyer's Gang. Everybody that wanted to join had got to take an oath and write his name in blood. We musn't tell band secrets, or we must have our throats cut. Anybody done aything to a boy in the band, whichever boy was ordered to kill that person and his family, and hack a cross in his chest, the sign of the band.
I thought it was a beautiful oath. Then Ben Rogers says:"Here's Huck Finn, he ain't got no family; what you gonna do 'bout him?" They talked it over and nearly ruled me out on account of my father being a drunk. They said every boy must have a family or someone to kill, or else it wouldn't be fair and square for everyone. I was most ready to cry, but then I offered up Miss WAtson, and they said she would do.
Discover Moses and the Bulrushers
I want a smoke. I asked the widow to let me, but she wouldn’t. She said it was a mean practice and wasn’t clean, and I must try to not do it any more. That is just the way with some people. They get down on a thing when they don’t know nothing about it. Here she was a-bothering about Moses, which was no kin to her, and no use to anybody, being gone, you see, yet finding a power of fault with me for doing a thing that had some good in it.
Then there is her sister, Miss Watson. She just came to live with her, and she only tells me to do this, and do that. She would say, “Don’t put your feet up there Huckleberry”; and “Don’t scrunch up like that Huckleberry- set up straight”; and pretty soon she would say, “Don’t gap and stretch like that Huckleberry- why don’t you behave?” She told me about a bad place, and when I told her I wanted to go there she got mad. All I want is change. I don't want to live with the widow no more. I don't want to wear these clothes no more. I liked living by myself. I could go anywheres I wanted. I never go to school. I could put my feet up there, I could scrunch up, and I could misbehave like Miss Watson wouldn't believe. I would've played with Tom Sawyer anytime I wanted.
Anyways, Miss Watson told me about the good place. I couldn't imagine being there. I asked her if she reckoned Tom would be there, and she said not by a considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together. Later on that night I was feeling awful lonesome. the widow kept trying to make me happy, but I just wanted some company. I set down and got out my pipe for a smoke; for the house was all still, the widow wouldn't know. Pretty soon I heard a twig snap and rustling outa my window. I set still and listened. I could just barely hear a "mee-yow! mee-yow!" Sure enough, there was Tom Sawyer waiting for me.
Then there is her sister, Miss Watson. She just came to live with her, and she only tells me to do this, and do that. She would say, “Don’t put your feet up there Huckleberry”; and “Don’t scrunch up like that Huckleberry- set up straight”; and pretty soon she would say, “Don’t gap and stretch like that Huckleberry- why don’t you behave?” She told me about a bad place, and when I told her I wanted to go there she got mad. All I want is change. I don't want to live with the widow no more. I don't want to wear these clothes no more. I liked living by myself. I could go anywheres I wanted. I never go to school. I could put my feet up there, I could scrunch up, and I could misbehave like Miss Watson wouldn't believe. I would've played with Tom Sawyer anytime I wanted.
Anyways, Miss Watson told me about the good place. I couldn't imagine being there. I asked her if she reckoned Tom would be there, and she said not by a considerable sight. I was glad about that, because I wanted him and me to be together. Later on that night I was feeling awful lonesome. the widow kept trying to make me happy, but I just wanted some company. I set down and got out my pipe for a smoke; for the house was all still, the widow wouldn't know. Pretty soon I heard a twig snap and rustling outa my window. I set still and listened. I could just barely hear a "mee-yow! mee-yow!" Sure enough, there was Tom Sawyer waiting for me.
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