 Chapter 29 of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. The First Thing Tom Heard on Friday Morning was a glad piece of news. Judge Thatcher's family had come back to town the night before. Both Injun Joe and the treasure sunk into secondary importance for a moment, and Becky took the chief place in the boy's interest. He saw her and they had an exhausting good time playing hispy and gullykeeper with a crowd of their schoolmates. The day was completed and crowned in a peculiarly satisfactory way. Becky teased her mother to appoint the next day for the long-promised and long-delayed picnic, and she consented. The child's delight was boundless and Tom's not more moderate. The invitations were sent out before sunset, and straight away the young folks of the village were thrown into a fever of preparation and pleasurable anticipation. Tom's excitement enabled him to keep awake until a pretty late hour, and he had good hopes of hearing hucks meow, and of having his treasure to astonish Becky and the picnickers with next day. But he was disappointed. No signal came that night. Morning came eventually, and by ten or eleven o'clock a giddy and rollicking company were gathered at Judge Thatcher's, and everything was ready for a start. It was not the custom for elderly people to mar the picnics with their presence. The children were considered safe enough under the wings of a few young ladies of eighteen and a few young gentlemen of twenty-three or their bouts. The old steam ferry boat was chartered for the occasion. Presently the gay throng filled up the main street, laden with provision baskets. Sid was sick and had to miss the fun. Mary remained at home to entertain him. The last thing Mrs. Thatcher said to Becky was, You'll not get back till late. Perhaps you'd better stay all night with some of the girls that live near the ferry landing, child. Then I'll stay with Susie Harper, mama. Very well, and mind, and behave yourself, and don't be any trouble. Presently, as they tripped along, Tom said to Becky, Say, I'll tell you what we'll do. Instead of going to Joe Harper's, we'll climb right up the hill and stop at the widow Douglas. She'll have ice cream. She has it most every day. Dead loads of it. And she'll be awful glad to have us. Oh, that will be fun. Then Becky reflected a moment and said, But what will mama say? How will she ever know? The girl turned the idea over in her mind and said reluctantly, I reckon it's wrong, but, but shucks, your mother won't know, and so what's the harm? All she wants is that you'll be safe. And I'll bet you she'd have said go there if she'd have thought of it. I know she would. The widow Douglas splendid hospitality was a tempting bait. It and Tom's persuasions presently carried the day. So it was decided to say nothing to anybody about the night's program. Presently it occurred to Tom that maybe Huck might come this very night and give the signal. The thought took a deal of the spirit out of his anticipations. Still, he could not bear to give up the fun at widow Douglas. And why should he give it up, he reasoned. The signal did not come the night before, so why should it be any more likely to come tonight? The sure fun of the evening outweighed the uncertain treasure, and boylike he determined to yield to the stronger inclination and not allow himself to think of the box of money. Another time that day. Three miles below town, the ferry boat stopped at the mouth of a woody hollow and tied up. The crowd swarmed ashore, and soon the forest distances and craggy heights echoed far and near with shouting and laughter. All the different ways of getting hot and tired were gone through with, and by and by the rovers straggled back to camp, fortified with responsible appetites, and then the destruction of the good things began. After the feast, there was a refreshing season of rest and chat in the shade of spreading oaks. By and by somebody shouted, Who's ready for the cave? Everybody was. Bundles of candles were procured and straight away there was a general scamper up the hill. The mouth of the cave was up the hillside, an opening shaped like a letter A. Its massive oaken door stood unbarred. Within was a small chamber, chilly as an ice house, and walled by nature with solid limestone that was dewy with a cold sweat. It was romantic and mysterious to stand here in the deep gloom and look out upon the green valley shining in the sun. But the impressiveness of the situation quickly wore off, and the romping began again. The moment a candle was lighted there was a general rush upon the owner of it. A struggle and a gallant defence followed, but the candle was soon knocked down or blown out, and then there was a glad clamour of laughter and a new chase. But all things have an end. By and by the procession went filing down the deep descent of the main avenue, the flickering rank of lights dimly revealing the lofty walls of rock almost to their point of junction, sixty feet overhead. This main avenue was not more than eight or ten feet wide. Every few steps other lofty and still narrower crevices branched from it on either hand. For MacDougall's cave was but a vast labyrinth of crocodiles that ran into each other and out again and led nowhere. It was said that one might wander days and nights together through its intricate tangle of rifts and chasms, and never find the end of the cave. And that he might go down and down and still down into the earth, and it was just the same, labyrinth after labyrinth and no end to any of them. No man knew the cave, that was an impossible thing. Most of the young men knew a portion of it, and it was not customary to venture much beyond this known portion. Tom Sawyer knew as much of the cave as anyone. The procession moved along the main avenue some three-quarters of a mile, and then groups and couples began to slip aside into branch avenues, fly along the dismal corridors, and take each other by surprise at points where the corridors joined again. Parties were able to elude each other for the space of half an hour without going beyond the known ground. By and by one group after another came straggling back to the mouth of the cave, panting, hilarious, smeared from head to toe with tallow drippings, dobbled with clay, and entirely delighted with the success of the day. Then they were astonished to find that they had been taking no note of time and that night was about at hand. The clanging bell had been calling for half an hour. However, this sort of close to the day's adventures was romantic and therefore satisfactory. When the ferryboat with her wild freight pushed into the stream, nobody cared six pence for the wasted time but the captain of the craft. Huck was already upon his watch when the ferryboat's lights went glinting past the wharf. He heard no noise on board, for the young people were as subdued and still as people usually are, who are nearly tired to death. He wondered what boat it was and why she did not stop at the wharf, and then he dropped her out of his mind and put his attention upon his business. The night was growing cloudy and dark. Ten o'clock came and the noise of vehicles ceased. Scattered lights began to wink out. All straggling foot passengers disappeared. The village betook itself to its slumbers and left the small watcher alone with the silence and the ghosts. Eleven o'clock came and the tavern lights were put out. Darkness everywhere now. Huck waited what seemed a weary long time but nothing happened. His faith was weakening. Was there any use? Was there really any use? Why not give it up and turn in? A noise fell upon his ear. He was all attention in an instant. The alley door closed softly. He sprang to the corner of the brick's door. The next moment two men brushed by him and one seemed to have something under his arm. It must be that box, so they were going to remove the treasure. Why call Tom now? It would be absurd. The men would get away with the box and never be found again. No, he would stick to their wake and follow them. He would trust to the darkness for security from discovery. So commuting with himself, Huck stepped out and glided along behind the men, cat-like with bare feet, allowing them to keep just far enough ahead not to be invisible. They moved up the river street three blocks, then turned to the left up across street. They went straight ahead then until they came to the path that led up Cardiff Hill. This they took. They passed by the old Welshman's house, halfway up the hill, without hesitating, and still climbed upward. Good thought, Huck. They will bury it in the old quarry. But they never stopped at the quarry. They passed on, up the summit. They plunged into the narrow path between the tall sumac bushes and were at once hidden in the gloom. Huck closed up and shortened his distance now, for they would never be able to see him. He trotted along a while, then slackened his pace, fearing he was gaining too fast. Moved on apiece, then stopped altogether. Listened, no sound, none save that he seemed to hear the beating of his own heart. The hooting of an owl came over the hill, ominous sound, but no footsteps. Heavens was everything lost. He was about to spring with winged feet, when a man cleared his throat not four feet from him. Huck's heart shot into his throat, but he swallowed it again, and then he stood there, shaking, as if a dozen agus had taken charge of him at once, and so weak that he thought he must surely fall to the ground. He knew where he was. He knew he was within five steps of the style leading into winter Douglas grounds. Very well, he thought, let them bury it there. It won't be hard to find. Now there was a voice, a very low voice, Injun Joe's. Damn her, maybe she's got company. There's lights, late as it is. I can't see any. This was that stranger's voice, the stranger of the haunted house. A deadly chill went to Huck's heart. This, then, was the revenge job. His thought was to fly. Then he remembered that the widow Douglas had been kind to him more than once, and maybe these men were going to murder her. He wished he dared venture to warn her, but he knew he didn't dare. They might come and catch him. He thought all this and more in the moment that elapsed between the stranger's remark and Injun Joe's next, which was, Because the bush is in your way. Now, this way. Now, you see, don't you? Yes. Well, there is company there, I reckon. Better give it up. Give it up, and I just leaving this country forever. Give it up and maybe never have another chance. I tell you again, as I've told you before, I don't care for her swag. You may have it. But her husband was rough on me. Many times he was rough on me, and mainly he was the justice of the peace that jugged me for a vagrant. And that ain't all. It ain't a millionth part of it. He had me horsewhipped. Horsewhipped in front of the jail, like a nigger, with all the town looking on. Horsewhipped, do you understand? He took advantage of me and died. But I'll take it out of her. Oh, don't kill her! Don't do that! Kill? Who said anything about killing? I would kill him if he was here, but not her. When you want to get revenge on a woman, you don't kill her. Bosh! You go for her looks. You slit her nostrils. You notch her ears like a sow. By God, that's—keep your opinion to yourself. It will be safest for you. I'll tie her to the bed. If she bleeds to death, is that my fault? I'll not cry if she does. My friend, you'll help me in this thing, for my sake. That's why you're here. I mightn't be able alone. If you flinch, I'll kill you. Do you understand that? And if I have to kill you, I'll kill her. And then I reckon nobody'll ever know much about who done this business. Well, if it's got to be done, let's get at it. The quicker, the better. I'm all in a shiver. Do it now, and company there? Look here, I'll get suspicious of you, first thing you know. No, we'll wait till the lights are out. There's no hurry. Huck felt that a silence was going to ensue, a thing still more awful than any amount of murderous talk, so he held his breath and stepped gingerly back, planted his foot carefully and firmly after balancing one legged in a precarious way and almost toppling over, first on one side and then on the other. He took another step back with the same elaboration and the same risks, then another and another and a twig snapped under his foot. His breath stopped and he listened. There was no sound. The stillness was perfect. His gratitude was measureless. Now he turned in his tracks between the walls of sumac bushes, turned himself as carefully as if he were a ship, and then stepped quickly but cautiously along. When he emerged at the quarry he felt secure and so he picked up his nimble heels and flew. Down, down he sped, until he reached the Welshman's. He banged at the door and presently the heads of the old man and his two stalwart sons were thrust from windows. What's the row there? Who's banging? What do you want? Let me in quick. I'll tell you everything. Why, who are you? Huckleberry Finn. Quick, let me in. Huckleberry Finn indeed. It ain't a name to open many doors, I judge, but let him in lads and let's see what's the trouble. Please don't ever tell I told you were Huck's first words when he got in. Please don't. I'd be killed, sure. But the widow's been good friends to me sometimes and I want to tell. I will tell if you'll promise you won't ever say it was me. By George he has got something to tell or he wouldn't act so, exclaimed the old man. Out with it and nobody will ever tell, lad. Three minutes later the old man and his sons, well armed, were up the hill and just entering the sumac path on Tiptoe, their weapons in their hands. Huck accompanied them no further. He hid behind a great boulder and fell to listening. There was a lagging, anxious silence and then all of a sudden there was an explosion of firearms and a cry. Huck waited for no particulars. He sprang away and sped down the hill as fast as his legs could carry him. End of Chapter 29. CHAPTER 30. OF THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SOYER BY MARK TWAIN This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Blaine McCoy. The Adventures of Tom Soyer by Mark Twain. Chapter 30. As the earliest suspicion of dawn appeared on Sunday morning, Huck came groping up the hill and wrapped gently at the old Welshman's door. The inmates were asleep but it was a sleep that was set on a hair-trigger on account of the exciting episode of the night. A call came from a window. Who's there? Huck's scared voice answered in a low tone. Please let me in. It's only Huck Finn. It's a name that can open this door night or day, lad, and welcome. These were strange words to the vagabond boy's ears and the pleasantest he had ever heard. He could not recollect that closing word had ever been applied in his case before. The door was quickly unlocked and he entered. Huck was given a seat and the old man and his brace of tall sons speedily dressed themselves. Now, my boy, I hope you're good and hungry because breakfast will be ready as soon as the sun's up and we'll have a piping hot one too. Make yourself easy about that. I and the boys hoped you'd turn up and stop here last night. I was awful scared, said Huck, and I run. I took out when the pistols went off and I didn't stop for three miles. I've come now because I wanted to know about it, you know, and I come before daylight because I didn't want to run across them devils even if they was dead. Well, poor chap, you do look as if you'd had a hard night of it. But there's a bed here for you when you've had your breakfast. No, they ain't dead, lad. We're sorry enough for that. You see, we knew right where to put our hands on them by your description. So we crept along on tiptoe till we got within fifteen feet of them, dark as a cellar that Sumac path was. And just then I found I was going to sneeze. It was the meanest kind of luck. I tried to keep it back but no use. It was bound to come and it did come. I was in the lead with my pistol raised and when the sneeze started those scoundrels of wrestling to get out of the path, I sung out, fire, boys, and blazed away at the place where the wrestling was. So did the boys. But they were often a jiffy, those villains, and we after them, down through the woods. I judged we never touched them. They fired a shot of peace as they started but their bullets whizzed by and didn't do us any harm. As soon as we lost the sound of their feet we quit chasing and went down and stirred up the constables. They got a posse together and went off to guard the riverbank. And as soon as it is light, the sheriff and a gang are going to beat up the woods. My boys will be with them presently. I wish we had some sort of description of those rascals to help a good deal. But you couldn't see what they were like in the dark, lad, I suppose. Oh yes, I saw them downtown and followed them. Splendid. Describe them. Describe them, my boy. Ones the old deaf and dumb Spaniard that's been around here once or twice, and to others a mean-looking ragged. That's enough, lad. We know the men. Happened on them in the woods back of the widows one day and they slunk away. Off with you boys and tell the sheriff, get your breakfast tomorrow morning. The Welshman's sons departed at once. As they were leaving the room, Huck sprang up and exclaimed, Oh, please don't tell anybody it was me that blowed on them. Oh, please. All right, if you say it, Huck, but you ought to have the credit of what you did. Oh no, no, please don't tell. When the young men were gone, the old Welshman said, They won't tell, and I won't, but why don't you want it known? Huck would not explain, further than to say that he already knew too much about one of those men and would not have the man know that he knew anything against him for the whole world. He would be killed for knowing it, sure. The old man promised secrecy once more and said, How did you come to follow those fellows, lad? Were they looking suspicious? Huck was silent while he framed a duly cautious reply. Then he said, Well, you see, I'm a kind of a hard lot. At least everybody says so and I don't see nothing again. And sometimes I can't sleep much on account of thinking about it and sort of trying to strike out a new way of doing. That was the way of it last night. I couldn't get sleep, and so I come along up street about midnight, turning it all over, and when I got to that old shackley brick store by the temperance tavern, I backed up again the wall to have another think. Well, just then along comes these two chaps slipping close by me with something under their arm, and I reckon they'd stole it. One was a smoking and two other wanted a light, so they stopped right before me and the cigars lit up their faces, and I could see the big one was the deaf and dumb Spaniard by his white whiskers and the patch on his eye, and two other one was a rusty, ragged looking devil. Could you see the rags by the light of the cigars? This staggered huck for a moment, then he said, Well, I don't know, but somehow it seems as if I did. Then they went on and you followed them. Yes, that was it. I wanted to see what was up. They sneaked along, so I dogged them to the Witter's style and stood in the dark and heard the ragged one beg for the Witter, and the Spaniard swear he'd spiler looks just as I told you and your two, What? The deaf and dumb man said all that? Huck had made another terrible mistake. He was trying his best to keep the old man from getting the faintest hint of who the Spaniard might be, and yet his tongue seemed determined to get him into trouble in spite of all he could do. He made several efforts to creep out of his scrape, but the old man's eye was upon him, and he made blunder after blunder. Presently the Welshman said, My boy, don't be afraid of me. I wouldn't hurt a hair of your head for all the world. No, I'd protect you. I'd protect you. This Spaniard is not deaf and dumb. You've let that slip without intending it. You can't cover that up now. You know something about that Spaniard that you want to keep dark. Now, trust me. Tell me what it is, and trust me, I won't betray you. Huck looked into the old man's honest eyes a moment, then bent over and whispered in his ear, Attain a Spaniard, it's Injun Joe. The Welshman almost jumped out of his chair. In a moment he said, It's all plain enough now. When you talked about notching ears and slitting noses, I judged that this was one of your own embellishments, because white men don't take that sort of revenge. But an Injun, that's a different matter altogether. During breakfast the talk went on, and in the course of it the old man said that the last thing which he and his sons had done before going to bed was to get a lantern and examine the style and its vicinity for marks of blood. They found none, but captured a bulky bundle of, of what? If the words had been lightning they could not have leaped with a more stunning suddenness from Huck's blanched lips. His eyes were staring wide now and his breath suspended, waiting for the answer. The Welshman started, stared in return. Three seconds, five seconds, ten, and then replied, Of burglar's tools, why, what's the matter with you? Huck sank back, panting gently, but deeply unutterably grateful. The Welshman eyed him gravely, curiously, and presently said, Yes, burglar's tools. That appears to relieve you a great deal. But what did give you that turn? What were you expecting we'd found? Huck was in a close place. The inquiring eye was upon him. He would have given anything for material for a plausible answer. Nothing suggested itself. The inquiring eye was boring deeper and deeper. A senseless reply offered. There was no time to weigh it, so at a venture he uttered it, feebly. Sunday school books, maybe? Poor Huck was too distressed to smile, but the old man laughed loud and joyously, shook up the details of anatomy from head to foot, and ended by saying that such a laugh was money in a man's pocket because it cut down the doctor's bill like everything. Then he added, Poor old chap, you're white and jaded. You ain't well a bit. No wonder you're a little flighty and off your balance. But you'll come out of it. Rest and sleep will fetch you out all right, I hope. Huck was irritated to think he had been such a goose and betrayed such a suspicious excitement. For he had dropped the idea that the parcel brought from the tavern was the treasure as soon as he'd heard the talk at the widow's style. He had only thought it was not the treasure, however. He had not known that it wasn't. And so the suggestion of a captured bundle was too much for his self-possession. But on the whole he felt glad the little episode had happened. For now he knew beyond all question that the bundle was not THE bundle, and so his mind was at rest and exceedingly comfortable. In fact everything seemed to be drifting just in the right direction now. The treasure must still be in number two. The men would be captured and jailed that day, and he and Tom could seize the gold that night without any trouble or any fear of interruption. Just as breakfast was completed there was a knock at the door. Huck jumped for a hiding place for he had no mind to be connected even remotely with the late event. The Welshman admitted several ladies and gentlemen, among them the widow Douglas, and noticed that groups of citizens were climbing up the hill to stare at the style. So the news had spread. The Welshman had to tell the story of the night to the visitors. The widow's gratitude for her preservation was outspoken. Don't say a word about it, madam. There's another that you're more beholden to than you are to me and my boys, maybe, but he don't allow me to tell his name. We wouldn't have been there but for him. Of course this excited a curiosity so vast that it almost belittled the main matter. But the Welshman allowed it to eat into the vitals of his visitors and threw them to be transmitted to the whole town, for he refused to part with his secret. When all else had been learned, the widow said, I went to sleep reading in bed and slept straight through all that noise. Why didn't you come and wake me? We judged it weren't worthwhile. Those fellows weren't likely to come again. They hadn't any tools left to work with and what was the use of waking you up and scaring you to death? My three negro men stood guard at your house all the rest of the night. The guests come back. More visitors came and the story had to be told and retold for a couple hours more. There was no Sabbath school during day school vacation but everybody was early at church. The stirring event was well canvassed. News came that not a sign of the two villains had been yet discovered. When the sermon was finished, Judge Thatcher's wife dropped alongside of Mrs. Harper as she moved down the aisle with the crowd and said, Is my Becky going to sleep all day? I just expected she would be tired to death. Your Becky? Yes, with a startled look. Didn't she stay with you last night? Why no. Mrs. Thatcher turned pale and sank into a pew just as Aunt Polly talking briskly with a friend passed by. Aunt Polly said, Good morning, Mrs. Thatcher. Good morning, Mrs. Harper. I've got a boy that's turned up missing. I reckon my Tom stayed at your house last night, one of you, and now he's afraid to come to church. I've got to settle with him. Mrs. Thatcher shook her head feebly and turned paler than ever. He didn't stay with us, said Mrs. Harper, beginning to look uneasy. A marked anxiety came into Aunt Polly's face. Joe Harper, have you seen my Tom this morning? Know him? When did you see him last? Joe tried to remember, but was not sure he could say. The people had stopped moving out of church. Whispers passed along and a boating uneasiness took possession of every countenance. Children were anxiously questioned and young teachers. They all said that they had not noticed whether Tom and Becky were on board the ferry boat on the homeward trip. It was dark, no one thought of inquiring if anyone was missing. One young man finally blurted out his fear that they were still in the cave. Mrs. Thatcher swooned away. Aunt Polly felt a crying and ringing her hands. The alarm swept from lip to lip, from group to group, from street to street, and within five minutes the bells were wildly clanging and the whole town was up. The Cardiff Hill episode sank into instant insignificance. The burglars were forgotten. Horses were saddled. Skiffs were manned. The ferry boat ordered out and before the horror was half an hour old, two hundred men were pouring down high road and river toward the cave. All the long afternoon the village seemed empty and dead. Many women visited Aunt Polly and Mrs. Thatcher and tried to comfort them. They cried with them too and that was still better than words. All the tedious night the town waited for news but when the morning dawned at last all the word that came was send more candles and send food. Mrs. Thatcher was almost crazed and Aunt Polly also. Judge Thatcher sent messages of hope and encouragement from the cave but they conveyed no real cheer. The old Welshman came home toward daylight, spattered with candle-grease, smeared with clay and almost worn out. He found huck still in the bed that had been provided for him and delirious with fever. The physicians were all at the cave so the widow Douglas came and took charge of the patient. She said she would do her best by him because whether he was good, bad or indifferent he was the lords and nothing that was the lords was a thing to be neglected. The Welshman said huck had good spots in him and the widow said, you can depend on it. That's the lords' mark. But off he never does, puts it somewhere on every creature that comes from his hands. Early in the forenoon parties of jaded men began to straggle into the village but the strongest of the citizens continued searching. All the news that could be gained was that remotenesses of the cavern were being ransacked that had never been visited before. That every corner and crevice was going to be thoroughly searched that wherever one wandered through the maze of passages lights were to be seen flitting hither and thither in the distance and shouting and pistol shots sent their hollow reverberations to the ear down the somber aisles. In one place, far from the section usually traversed by tourists the names Becky and Tom had been found traced upon the rocky wall with candle smoke and near at hand a grease-soiled bit of ribbon. Mrs. Thatcher recognized the ribbon and cried over it. She said it was the last relic she would ever have of her child and that no other memorial of her could ever be so precious because this one parted latest from the living body before the awful death came. Some said that now and then in the cave a faraway speck of light would glimmer and then a glorious shout would burst forth and a score of men go trooping down the echoing aisle and then a sickening disappointment always followed. The children were not there. It was only a searcher's light. Three dreadful days and nights dragged their tedious hours along and the village sank into a hopeless stupor. No one had heart for anything. The accidental discovery just made that the proprietor of the temperance tavern kept liquor on his premises scarcely fluttered the public pulse tremendous as the fact was. In a lucid interval Huck Feebley led up to the subject of taverns and finally asked dimly dreading the worst if anything had been discovered at the temperance tavern since he had been ill. Yes, said the widow. Huck started up in bed wild-eyed. What, what was it? Liquor and the place has been shut up. Lie down, child, what a turn you did give me. Only tell me just one thing, only just one, please. Was it Tom Sawyer that found it? The widow burst into tears. Hush, hush, child, hush. I've told you before you must not talk. You are very, very sick. Then nothing but liquor had been found. There would have been a great pow-wow if it had been the gold. So the treasure was gone forever. Gone forever. But what could she be crying about? Curious that she should cry. These thoughts worked their dimway through Huck's mind and under the weariness they gave him he fell asleep. The widow said to herself, there he's asleep, poor wreck. Tom Sawyer find it. Pity, but somebody could find Tom Sawyer. There ain't many left now that's got hope enough or strength enough either to go on searching. End of Chapter 30 Recording by Blaine McCoy Chapter 31 Of the Adventures of Tom Sawyer Chapter 31 Of the Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain This is a LibriVox recording while LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Annalisa Bodker The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain Chapter 31 Now to return to Tom and Becky's share in the picnic. They tripped along the murky aisles with the rest of the company visiting the familiar Wonders of the Cave, Wonders dubbed with rather over descriptive names such as The Drawing Room, The Cathedral, Aladdin's Palace and so on. Presently the hide-and-seek frolicking began and Tom and Becky engaged in it with zeal until the exertion began to grow a trifle-weary sum. Then they wandered down a sinuous avenue holding their candles aloft and reading the tangled web-work of names, dates, post-office addresses and mottos with which the rocky walls had been frescoed in candle-smoke. Still drifting along and talking they scarcely noticed that they were now in a part of the cave whose walls were not frescoed. They smoked their own names under an overhanging shelf and moved on. Presently they came to a place where a little stream of water trickling over a ledge and carrying a limestone sediment with it, had in the slow-dragging ages formed a laced and ruffled Niagara in gleaming and imperishable stone. Tom squeezed his small body behind it in order to illuminate it for Becky's gratification. He found that it curtained a sort of steep, natural stairway which was enclosed between narrow walls and at once the ambition to be a discoverer seized him. Becky responded to his call and they made a smoke-mark for future guidance and started upon their quest. They wound this way and that far down into the secret depths of the cave made another mark and branched off in search of novelties to tell the upper world about. In one place they found a spacious cavern from whose ceiling depended a multitude of shining stalactites of the length and circumference of a man's leg. They walked all about it wandering and admiring and presently left it by one of the numerous passages that opened into it. This shortly brought them to a bewitching spring whose basin was encrusted with a frostwork of glittering crystals. It was in the midst of a cavern whose walls were supported by many fantastic pillars which had been formed by the joining of great stalactites and stalagmites together. It was in the midst of a period of a period of centuries. Under the roof vast knots of bats had packed themselves together thousands in a bunch. The lights disturbed the creatures and they came flocking down by the hundreds squeaking and darting furiously at the candles. Tom knew their ways and the danger of this sort of conduct. He seized Becky's hand and hurried her into the first corridor to slide out with its wing while she was passing out of the cavern. The bats chased the children a good distance but the fugitives plunged into every new passage that offered and at last got rid of the perilous things. Tom found a subterranean lake shortly which stretched its dim length away until its shape was lost in the shadows. He wanted to explore its borders but concluded it would be best to sit down and rest. Now, for the first time, the deep stillness of the place laid a clammy hand upon the spirits of the children. Becky said, Why, I didn't notice that it seems ever so long since I heard any of the others. Come to think, Becky, we are away down below them and I don't know how far away north or south or east or whichever it is. Becky grew apprehensive. I wonder how long we've been down here, Tom. We better start back. Yes, I reckon we better. Perhaps we better. Can you find the way, Tom? It's all a mixed up crookedness to me. I reckon I could find it but then the bats, if they put our candles out it will be an awful fix. Let's try some other way to go through there. Well, but I hope we won't get lost. It would be so awful. And the girls shuddered at the thought of the dreadful possibilities. They started through a corridor and traversed it in silence a long way, glancing at each new opening to see if there was anything familiar about the look of it. But they were all strange. Every time Tom made an examination Becky would watch his face with an encouraging sign and he would say cheerily, oh, it's all right. This ain't the one, but we'll come to it right away. But he felt less and less hopeful with each failure and presently began to turn off into diverging avenues at sheer random in desperate hope of finding the one that was wanted. He still said it was all right but there was such a leadened dread at his heart that the words sounded just as if he had said all is lost. Becky clung to his side in an anguish of fear and tried hard to keep back the tears but they would come. At last she said, oh, Tom, never mind the bats, let's go back that way. We seem to get worse and worse off all the time. Listen, said he, profound silence, silence so deep that even their tongues were conspicuous in the hush. Tom shouted. The call went echoing down the empty aisles and died out in the distance in a faint sound that resembled a ripple of mocking laughter. Oh, don't do it again, Tom, it is too horrid, said Becky. It is horrid, but I better, Becky, they might hear us, you know, and he shouted again. The might was an even chillier horror than a ghostly laughter. It so confessed to perishing hope. The children stood still and listened, but there was no result. Tom turned upon the back track at once and hurried his steps. It was, but a little while before a certain indecision in his manner revealed another fearful fact to Becky. He could not find his way back. Oh, Tom, you didn't make any marks. Becky, I was such a fool. Such a fool I never thought we might want to come back. No, I can't find the way, it's all mixed up. Tom, Tom, we're lost, we're lost. We never can get out of this awful place. Oh, why did we ever leave the others? She sank to the ground and burst into such a frenzy of crying that Tom was appalled with the idea that she might die or lose her reason. He sat down by her and put his arms around her. She buried her face in his bosom, she clung to him, she poured out her terrors, her unavailing regrets, and the far echoes turned them all to cheering laughter. Tom begged her to pluck up hope again and she said she could not. He fell to blaming and abusing himself for getting her into this miserable situation. This had a better effect. She said she would try to hope again. She would get up and follow wherever he might lead if only he would not talk like that any more. For he was no more to blame than she, she said. So they moved on again, aimlessly, simply at random. All they could do was to move, keep moving. For a while, hope made a show of reviving, not with any reason to back it, but only because it is its nature to revive when the spring has not been taken out of it by age and familiarity with failure. By and by, Tom took Becky's candle and blew it out. This economy meant so much. Words were not needed. Becky understood and her hope died again. She knew that Tom had a whole candle and three or four pieces in his pockets, yet he must economize. By and by, fatigue began to assert its claims. The children tried to pay attention. For it was dreadful to think of sitting down when time was grown to be so precious, moving in some direction, in any direction, was at least progress and might bear fruit, but to sit down was to invite and shorten its pursuit. At last Becky's frail limbs refused to carry her father. She sat down. Tom rested with her and they talked of home and the friends there and the comfortable beds and above all the light. Becky cried and Tom tried to think of some way of comforting her, but all his encouragements were grown threadbare with use and sounded like sarcasms. Fatigue bore so heavily upon Becky that she drowsed off to sleep. Tom was grateful. He sat looking into her drawn face and saw it grow smooth and natural under the influence of pleasant dreams and by and by a smile dawned and rested there. The peaceful face reflected somewhat of peace and healing into his own spirit and his thoughts wandered away to bygone times and dreamy memories. While he was deep in his musings Becky woke up with a breezy little laugh, but it was stricken dead upon her lips and a groan followed it. Oh, how could I sleep? I wish I never, never had waked. No, no I don't Tom, don't look so I won't say it again. I'm glad you slept, Becky. You'll feel rested now and we'll find a way out. We can try, Tom, but I've seen such a beautiful country in my dream. I reckon we are going there. Maybe not. Maybe not. Cheer up, Becky, and let's go on trying. They rose up and wandered along hand in hand and hopeless. They tried to estimate how long they had been in the cave but all they knew was that days and weeks and yet it was plain that this could not be for their candles were not gone yet. A long time after this they could not tell how long. Tom said they must go softly and listen for dripping water. They must find a spring. They found one presently and Tom said it was time to rest again. Both were cruelly tired, yet Becky said she thought she could go a little farther. She was surprised to hear Tom descend. She could not understand it. They sat down and Tom fastened his candle to the wall in front of them with some clay. Thought was soon busy. Nothing was said for some time. Then Becky broke the silence. Tom, I am so hungry! Tom took something out of his pocket. Do you remember this? Said he. Becky almost smiled. It's our wedding cake, Tom. Yes, and I wish it was as big as a barrel for it's all we've got. I saved it from the picnic for us to dream on, Tom, the way grown-up people do with wedding cake. But it'll be our... She dropped the sentence where it was. Tom divided the cake and Becky ate with good appetite while Tom nibbled at his moiety. There was abundance of cold water to finish the feast with. By and by Becky suggested that they move on again. Tom was silent a moment. Then he said, Becky, can you bear it if I tell you something? Becky's face paled, but she thought she could. Well then, Becky, we must stay here where there's water to drink. That little piece is our last candle. Becky gave loose to tears and wailings. Tom did what he could to comfort her but with little effect. At length, Becky said, Tom, well, Becky, they'll miss us and hunt for us. Yes, they will. Certainly, they will. Maybe they're hunting for us now, Tom. Why, I reckon maybe they are. I hope they are. When would they miss us, Tom? When they get back to the boat, I reckon. Tom, it might be dark in the night, but it's not. Tom, it might be dark then. Would they notice we hadn't come? I don't know. But anyway, your mother would miss you as soon as they got home. A frightened look in Becky's face brought Tom to his senses and he saw that he had made a blunder. Becky was not to have gone home that night. The children became silent and thoughtful. In a moment a new burst of grief from Becky showed Tom that the thing in his mind had struck hers also, that the Sabbath morning might be half spent before Mrs. Thatcher discovered that Becky was not at Mrs. Harper's. The children fastened their eyes upon their bit of candle and watched it melt slowly and piteously away. Saw the half inch of wick stand alone at last. Saw the feeble flame rise and fall. Climbed the thin column of smoke linger at its top a moment and then the horror of utter darkness reigned. How long afterward it was that Becky came to a slow consciousness that she was crying in Tom's arms, neither could tell. All that they knew was that after what seemed a mighty stretch of time both awoke out of a dead stupor of sleep and resumed their miseries once more. Tom said it might be Sunday now, maybe Monday. He tried to get Becky to talk but her sorrows were too oppressive. All her hopes were gone. Tom said they must have been missed long ago and no doubt the search was going on. He would shout and maybe someone would come. He tried it, but in the darkness the distant echoes sounded so hideously that he tried it no more. The hours wasted away and hunger came to torment the captives again. A portion of Tom's half of the cake was left. They divided and ate it. But they seemed hungrier than before. The poor morsel of food only whetted desire. By and by Tom said, Did you hear that? Both held their breath and listened. There was a sound like the faintest far-off shout. Instantly Tom answered it and leaving Becky by the hand started groping down the corridor in its direction. Presently he listened again. Again the sound was heard and apparently a little nearer. It's them, said Tom. They're coming. Come along, Becky. We're all right now. The joy of the prisoners was almost overwhelming. Their speed was slow, however, because pitfalls were somewhat common and had to be guarded against. They shortly came to one and had to stop. It might be three feet deep. It might be a hundred. There was no passing it at any rate. Tom got down on his breast and reached as far down as he could. No bottom. They must stay there and wait until the searchers came. They listened. Evidently the distant shoutings were growing more distant. A moment or two more. And they had gone altogether. Thinking misery of it. Tom whooped until he was hoarse. But it was of no use. He talked hopefully to Becky. But an age of anxious waiting passed and no sounds came again. The children groped their way back to the spring. The weary time dragged on. They slept again and awoke famished and woes-tricken. Tom believed it must be Tuesday by this time. Now an idea struck him. There were some side passages near at hand. It would be better to explore some of these than bear the weight of the heavy time and idleness. He took a kite line from his pocket, tied it to a projection, and he and Becky started. Tom in the lead, unwinding the line as he groped along. At the end of twenty steps the corridor ended in a jumping-off place. Tom got down on his knees and felt below then as far around the corner as he could reach with his hands conveniently. He made an effort to stretch yet a little farther to the right, and at that moment, not twenty yards away, a human hand, holding a candle, appeared from behind a rock. Tom lifted up a glorious shout, and instantly that hand was followed by the body it belonged to. Injun Joe's. Tom was paralyzed. He could not move. He was vastly gratified the next moment to see the Spaniard take to his heels and get himself out of sight. Tom wondered that Joe had not recognized his voice and come over and killed him for testifying in court. But the echoes must have disguised the voice. Without doubt that was it he reasoned. Tom's fright weakened every muscle in his body. He said to himself that if he had strength enough to get back to the spring he would stay there and nothing should tempt him to run the risk of meeting Injun Joe again. He was careful to keep from Becky what it was he had seen. He told her he had only shouted for luck. But hunger and wretchedness rise superior to fears in the long run. Another tedious wait at the spring and another long sleep brought changes. The children awoke tortured with a raging hunger. Tom believed it must be Wednesday or Thursday or even Friday or Saturday now and that the search had been given over. He proposed to explore another passage. He felt willing to risk Injun Joe and all other terrors. But Becky was very weak. She had sunk into a dreary apathy and would not be roused. She said she would wait now where she was and die. It would not be long. Tom to go with the Kite Line and explore if he chose but she implored him to come back every little while and speak to her and she made him promise that when the awful time came he would stay by her and hold her hand until all was over. Tom kissed her with a choking sensation in his throat and made a show of being confident of finding the searchers or an escape from the cave. The Kite Line in his hand and went groping down one of the passages on his hands and knees distressed with hunger and sick with boatings of coming doom. End of Chapter 31 Recording by Annalisa Bodker Chapter 32 of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain This is a LibriVox recording while LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Annalisa Bodker The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain Chapter 32 Tuesday afternoon came and waned to the twilight. The village of St. Petersburg still mourned. The lost children had not been found. Public prayers had been offered up for them and many a many a private prayer that had the petitioners whole heart in it. The still no good news came from the cave. The majority of the searchers had given up the quest and gone back to their daily avocations saying it was plain the children could never be found. Mrs. Thatcher was very ill and a great part of the time delirious. People said it was heart-breaking to hear her call her child and raise her head and listen a whole minute at a time then lay it wearily down again with a moan. Aunt Polly had drooped into a settled melancholy and her gray hair had grown almost white. The village went to its rest on Tuesday night sad and forlorn. Away in the middle of the night a wild peel burst from the village bells and in a moment the streets were swarming with frantic half-clad people who shouted turn out, turn out, they're found, they're found! Tin pans and horns were added to the din. The population masked itself and moved toward the river met the children coming in an open carriage drawn by shouting citizens thronged around it joined its homeward march magnificently up the main street roaring, who's ah, after who's ah? The village was illuminated nobody went to bed again it was the greatest night the little town had ever seen during the first half-hour a procession of villagers filed through Judge Thatcher's house seized the saved ones and kissed them squeezed Mrs. Thatcher's hand tried to speak but couldn't get out, raining tears all over the place. Aunt Polly's happiness was complete and Mrs. Thatcher's nearly so it would be complete, however as soon as the messenger dispatched with the great news to the cave should get the word to her husband Tom lay upon a sofa with an eager auditory about him and told the history of the wonderful adventure putting in many striking additions to adorn it with all and closed with the description of how he left Becky and went on an exploring expedition how he followed two avenues as far as his kite-line would reach how he followed a third to the fullest stretch of the kite-line and was about to turn back when he glimpsed a far-off speck that looked like daylight dropped the line and groped toward it pushed his head and shoulders into a small hole and saw the broad Mississippi rolling by and if it had only happened to be night he would not have seen that speck of daylight and would not have explored that passage any more he told how he went back for Becky and broke the good news and she told him not to fret her with such stuff for she was tired and knew she was going to die and wanted to be labored with her and convinced her and how she almost died for joy when she had groped to wear she actually saw the blue speck of daylight how he pushed his way out at the hole and then helped her out how they sat there and cried for gladness how some men came along in a skiff and Tom hailed them and told them their situation and their famished condition how the men didn't believe the wild tale at first because, said they you are five miles down the river below the valley where the cave is in then took them aboard rode to a house gave them supper made them rest till two or three hours after dark and then brought them home before day dawn Judge Thatcher and the handful of searches with him were tracked out in the cave by the twine clues they had strung behind them informed of the great news three days and nights of toil and hunger in the cave were not to be shaken off at once as Tom and Becky soon discovered they were bedridden all of Wednesday and Thursday and seemed to grow more and more tired and worn all the time Tom got about a little on Thursday was downtown Friday and nearly as whole as ever Saturday but Becky did not leave her room until Sunday and then she looked as if she had passed through a wasting illness Tom learned of Huck's sickness and went to see him on Friday but could not be admitted to the bedroom neither could he own Saturday or Sunday he was admitted daily after that but was warned to keep still of his adventure and introduced no exciting topic the widow Douglas stayed by to see that he obeyed at home Tom learned of the Cardiff Hill event also that the ragged man's body had eventually been found in the river near the ferry landing he had been drowned while trying to escape perhaps about a fortnight after Tom's rescue from the cave he started off to visit Huck who had grown plenty strong enough now to hear exciting talk that would interest him he thought Judge Thatcher's house was on Tom's way and he stopped to see Becky the judge and some friends set Tom to talking and someone asked him ironically if he wouldn't like to go to the cave again Tom said he thought he wouldn't mind it the judge said well there are others just like you Tom I've not the least out but we have taken care of that nobody will get lost in that cave anymore why because I had its big door sheathed with boiler iron two weeks ago and triple locked and I've got the keys Tom turned as white as a sheet what's the matter boy here run somebody fetch a glass of water the water was brought and thrown into Tom's face now you're all right what was the matter with you Tom oh Judge Joe's in the cave End of Chapter 32 Recording by Annalisa Bodker And a dozen skiff loads of men were on their way to McDougall's cave and the ferry boat well filled with passengers soon followed Tom Sawyer was in the skiff that bore Judge Thatcher when the cave door was unlocked a sorrowful sight presented itself in the dim twilight of the place engine Joe lay stretched upon the ground dead with his face close to the crack of the door as if his longing eyes had been fixed to the latest moment upon the light in the cheer of the free world outside Tom was touched for he knew by his own experience how this wretch had suffered his pity was moved but nevertheless he felt an abounding sense of relief and security now which revealed to him in a degree which he had not fully appreciated before how vast a weight of dread had been lying upon him since the day he lifted his voice against this bloody minded outcast engine Joe's boy knife lay close by its blade broken in two the great foundation beam of the door had been chipped and hacked through with tedious labor useless labor too it was for the native rock formed a sill outside it stubborn material the knife had wrought no effect the only damage done was to the knife itself but if there had been no stony obstruction there the labor would have been useless still for if the beam had been wholly cut away engine Joe could not have squeezed his body under the door and he knew it so he had only hacked that place in order to be doing something in order to pass the weary time in order to employ his tortured faculties ordinarily one could find half a dozen bits of candle stuck around in the crevices of this vestibule left there by tourists but there were none now the prisoner had searched them out and eaten them he had also contrived to catch a few bats and these also he had eaten leaving only their claws the poor unfortunate had starved to death in one place near at hand a staglemite had been slowly growing up from the ground for ages builded by the water dripped from a stainless site overhead the captive had broken off the staglemite and upon the stump had placed a stone wherein he had scooped a shallow hollow to catch the precious drop that fell once in every three minutes with the dreary regularity of the clock tick a desert spoonful once in four and twenty hours that drop was falling when the pyramids were new when Troy fell when the foundations of Rome were laid when Christ was crucified when the conqueror created the British empire when Columbus sailed when the massacre at Lexington was news it is falling now it will still be falling all these things shall have sunk down the afternoon of history and the twilight of tradition and been swallowed up in the thick night of oblivion has everything a purpose and a mission did this drop fall patiently during five thousand years to be ready for this flitting human insects need and has it another important object to accomplish ten thousand years to come no matter it is many and many a year since the hapless half grade scooped out the stone to catch the priceless drops but to this day the tourist sears longest at that pathetic stone and that slow dropping water when he comes to see the wonders of McDougal's cave engine Joe's cup stands first in the list of the cavern's marvels even Aladdin's palace cannot rival it engine Joe was buried near the mouth of the cave and people flocked there in boats and wagons from the towns and from all the farms and hamlets for seven miles around they brought their children and all sorts of provisions and confessed that they had had almost a satisfactory a time at the funeral as they could have had at the hanging this funeral stopped the further growth of one thing the petition to the governor for engine Joe's pardon the petition had been largely signed many terrible and eloquent meetings had been held and a committee of sappy women been appointed to go in deep mourning and wail around the governor and implore him to be a merciful ass and trample his duty under foot engine Joe was believed to have killed five citizens of the village but what of that if he had been sainton himself there would have been plenty of weaklings ready to scribble their names to a pardon petition and drip a tear on it from their permanently impaired and leaky water works the morning after the funeral Tom took Huck to a private place to have an important talk Huck had learned all about Tom's adventure from the Welsh man and the widow Douglas by this time but Tom said he reckoned there was one thing they had not told him that thing was what he wanted to talk about now Huck's face saddened he said I know what it is you got into number two I never found anything but whiskey nobody told me it was you but I just knowed it must have been you soon as I heard about that whiskey business and I knowed you hadn't got the money because you'd got at me somewhere other and told me even if you was mom to everybody else Tom some things always told me we'd never get hold of that swag why Huck I never told on that tavern keeper you know his havern was all right the Saturday I went to the picnic don't you remember you was to watch there at night oh yes why it seems about a year ago it was that very night that I followed engine Joe to the widders you followed him yes but you keep mom I reckon engine Joe's left friends behind him and I don't want him souring on me and doing me mean tricks if it hadn't been for me he'd be down in Texas now all right then Huck told his entire adventure in confidence to Tom who had only heard of the Welsh man's part of it before well said Huck presently coming back to the main question whoever nipped the whiskey in number two nipped the money to I reckon anyways it's a goner for us Tom Huck that money wasn't ever in number two what Huck approached his comrades face cleanly Tom have you got on the track of that money again Huck it's in the cave Huck's eyes blazed say it again Tom the money's in the cave Tom honest engine now is it fun or earnest earnest Huck just as earnest as ever I was in my life will you go in there with me and get it out I bet I will I will if it's where we can blaze our way to it and not get lost Huck we can do that without the least little bit of trouble in the world good as wheat what makes you think the money's Huck you just wait till we get in there if we don't find it I'll agree to give you my drum and everything I've got in the world I will by Jinx all right it's a whiz when do you say right now if you say it are you strong enough is it far in the cave I've been on my pins a little three or four days now but I can't walk more in a mile Tom least I don't think I could it's about five mile into there the way anybody but me would go Huck but there's a mighty shortcut that they don't anybody but know about Huck I'll take you right to it in a skiff I'll float this gift down there and I'll put it back again all by myself you needn't ever turn your hand over let's start right off Tom all right we want some bread and meat and our pipes and a little bag or two and two or three kite strings and some of these new fangled things all Lucifer matches I tell you many's the time I wished I had some when I was in there before a trifle afternoon the boys borrowed a small skiff from a citizen who was absent and got under the way at once when they were several miles below cave hollow Tom said now you see this bluff here looks all alike all the way down from the cave hollow no houses no wood yards bushes all alike but do you see that white place up yonder where there's been a landslide well that's one of my marks we'll get a shore now they landed now Huck where were a standing you could touch that hole I got out of with a fishing pole see if you can find it Huck searched all the place about and found nothing Tom marched into a thick clump of sumac bushes and said here you are look at it Huck it's the snuggest hole in this country you just keep mom about it all along I've been wanting to be a robber but I knew I'd got to have a thing like this and where to run across it was the bother we've got it now and we'll keep it quiet only we'll let Joe Harper and Ben Rogers in because of course there's got to be a gang or else there wouldn't be any style about it Tom Sawyer's gang it sounds splendid don't it Huck well it just does Tom and who will we rob oh most anybody way lay people that's mostly the way and kill them no not always hive them in the cave till they raise a ransom what's a ransom? Money you make them raise all they can often their friends and after you've kept them a year if it ain't raised then you killed them that's the general way only you don't kill the women you shut up the women but you don't kill them they're always beautiful and rich and awfully scared you take their watches and things but you always take your hat off talk polite they ain't anybody as polite as robbers you'll see that in any book well the women get to loving you and after they've been in the cave a week or two weeks they stop crying and after that you couldn't get them to leave if you drove them out they turn right around and come back it's so in all the books why it's real bully Tom I believe it's better to be a pirate yes it's better in some ways because it's close to home and circuses and all that by this time everything was ready and the boys entered the hole Tom in the lead they toiled their way to the farther end of the tunnel then made their spliced kite strings fast and moved on a few steps brought them to the spring and Tom felt a shutter quiver all through him he should hook the fragment of candle wick perched on a lump of clay against the wall and described how he and Becky had watched the flame struggle and expire the boys began to quiet down to whispers now for the stillness and gloom of the place oppressed their spirits they went on and presently entered and followed Tom's other corridor until they reached the jumping off place the candles revealed the fact that it was not really a precipice but only a steep clay hill 20 or 30 feet high Tom whispered now I'll show you something Huck he held his candle aloft and said look as far around the corner as you can do you see that there on the big rock over yonder done with candle smoke Tom it's a cross now where's your number 2 under the cross hey right yonder's where I saw engine Joe poke up his candle Huck Huck stared at the mystic sign a while and then said with the shaky voice Tom let's get out of here what and leave the treasure yes leave it engine Joe's ghost is round about there certain no it ain't Huck no it ain't it would not the place where he died away out at the mouth of the cave five miles from here no Tom it wouldn't it would hang round the money I know the ways of ghosts and so do you Tom began to fear that Huck was right misgivings gathered in his mind but presently an idea occurred to him looky here Huck what fools were making of ourselves engine Joe's ghost ain't a going to come around where there's a cross the point was well taken it had its effect Tom I didn't think of that but that's so it's luck for us that cross is I reckon we'll climb down there and have a hunt for that box Tom when first cutting rude steps in the clay hill as he descended Huck followed four avenues opened out of the small cavern which the great rock stood in the boys examined three of them with no result they found a small recess in the one nearest the base of the rock with a pallet of blankets spread down in it also an old suspender some bacon rind and the well-nod bones of two or three follows but there was no money box the lads searched and researched this place but in vain Tom said he said under the cross well this comes nearest to being under the cross it can't be under the rock itself because that sets solid on the ground they searched everywhere once more and then sat down discouraged Huck could suggest nothing by and by Tom said looky here Huck there's footprints and some candle grease on the clay about one side of this rock but not on the other sides now what's that for I bet you the money is under the rock I'm going to dig in the clay that ain't no bad notion Tom said Huck with animation Tom's real Barlow was out at once and he had not dug four inches before he struck wood hey Huck you hear that Huck began to dig and scratch now some boards were soon uncovered and removed they had concealed a natural chasm which led under the rock Tom got into this and held his candle as far under the rock as he could but said he could not see to the end of the riff he proposed to explore he stooped and passed under the narrow way descended gradually he followed its winding course first to the right then to the left Huck had his heels Tom turned a short curve by and by and exclaimed my goodness Huck looky hair it was the treasure box sure enough occupying a snug little cavern along with an empty powder cake a couple of guns in leather cases two or three pairs of old moccasins a leather belt and some other rubbish well soaked with the water trip got it at last said Huck plowing among the tarnished coins with his hand my but were rich Tom Huck I always reckoned we'd get it it's just too good to believe but we have got it sure say let's not fool around here let's make it out let me see if I can lift the box it weighed about 50 pounds Tom could lift it after an awkward fashion but could not carry it conveniently I thought so he said they carried it like it was heavy that day at the haunted house I noticed that I reckon I was right to think of fetching the little bags along the money was soon 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 we go to robbing we'll keep them there all the time and we'll hold our orgies there too it's an awful snug place for orgies what orgies I don't know but robbers always have orgies and of course we've got to have them 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 and smoke when we get to the skiff they presently emerged into the clump of sumac bushes looked warily out found the clear and we're soon lunching and smoking in the skiff as the sun dipped toward the horizon they pushed out and got underway Tom skimmed up the shore through the long twilight chatting cheerily with Huck and landed shortly after dark now Huck said Tom we'll hide the money in the loft of the woodow's wood shed and I'll come up in the morning and we'll count it and divide and then we'll hunt a place out in the woods for it where it will be safe just you lay quiet here and watch the stuff till I run and hook Benny Taylor's little wagon I won't be gone a minute he disappeared and presently returned with the wagon put the two small sacks into it threw some old rags on top of them and started off dragging his cargo behind him when the boys reached the Welsh man's house they stopped to rest just as they were about to move on the Welsh man stepped out and said hello who's that Huck and Tom Sawyer good come along with me boys you are keeping everybody waiting here hurry up trot ahead I'll haul the wagon for you why it's not as light as it might be God bricks in it or old metal old metal said Tom I judged so the boys in this town will take more trouble and fool away more time hunting up six bits worth of old iron to sell to the foundry then they would to make twice the money at regular work but that's human nature hurry along hurry along 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 Mr. Jones we haven't been doing nothing the Welsh man laughed well I don't know Huck my boy I don't know about that ain't you in the widow good friends yes well she's been good friends to me anyway alright then what do you want to be afraid for this question was not entirely answered in Huck's slow mind before he found himself pushed along with Tom into Mrs. Douglas's drawing room Mr. Jones left the wagon near the door and followed the place was grandly lighted and everybody that was of any consequence in the village was there the Thatcher's were there, the Harpers the Rogers's Aunt Polly, Sid, Mary the minister, the editor and a great many more and all dressed in their best the widow received the boys as heartily as anyone could well receive to such looking beings they were covered with clay and candle grease Aunt Polly blushed crimson with humiliation and frowned and shook her head at Tom nobody suffered half as much as the two boys did however Mr. Jones said Tom wasn't at home yet so I gave him up but I stumbled on him and Huck right at my door and so I just brought them along in a hurry and you did just right said the widow come with me boys she took them to a bed chamber and said now wash and dress yourselves here are two new suits of clothes shirts, socks everything complete they're Huck's no, no thanks Huck, Mr. Jones bought one and I the other but they'll fit both of you get into them we'll wait come down when you are slicked up enough then she left end of chapter 33 chapter 34 of the adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Babia the adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain chapter 34 Huck said Tom, we can slope if we can find a rope the window in high from the ground shucks what do you want to slope for well, I ain't used to that kind of a crowd I can't stand it I ain't going down there Tom oh bother it ain't anything, I don't mind it a bit I'll take care of you said appeared Tom said he and he has been waiting for you all the afternoon Mary got your Sunday clothes ready and everybody has been fretting about you say ain't it gris and clear on your clothes now Mr. City you just tend to your own business what's all this blare out about anyway it's one of the widows parties that she's always having this time it's for the Welchman and his sons on account of that scrape they helped her out of the other night and say, I can tell you something if you want to know well, what why? oh Mr. Jones I'm going to try to spring something on the people here tonight but I overheard him tell Aunty today about it as a secret but I reckon it's not much of a secret now everybody knows the widow too for all she tries to let Aunty don't Mr. Jones was bound, Huck should be there couldn't get along with this grand seeker without Huck you know who secret about what, Sid about Huck tracking the robbers to the widows I reckon Mr. Jones was going to make a grand time over her surprise but I bet you it will drop pretty flat Sid chuckled in a very contented and satisfied way Sid was it you that told oh never mind who it was somebody told that's enough Sid there's only one person in this town mean enough to do that and that's you if you have been in Huck's place you'd have sneaked down the hill and never told anybody on the robbers you any but mean things and you can't bear to see anybody praised for doing good ones there no thanks as the widow says and Tom cucked Sid's ears and helped him to the door with several kicks now go and tell Aunty if you dare and tomorrow you'll catch it some minutes later the widows guests were at the supper table and a dozen children were propped up a little side tables in the same room after the fashion of that country and that day at the proper time Mr. Jones made his little speech in which he thanked the widow for the honor she was doing himself and his sons but said that there was another person whose modesty and so forth and so on he sprung a secret about Huck's share in the adventure in the finest dramatic manner he was master of but the surprise at occasion was largely counterfeit and not as clamorous and effusive as it might have been under happier circumstances however the widow made a pretty fair show of astonishment and keeps so many compliments and so much gratitude upon Huck that he almost forgot the nearly intolerable discomfort of his new clothes and the entirely intolerable discomfort of being set up as a target for everybody's case and everybody's lotations the widow said she meant to give Huck a home under her roof and have him educated and that when she could spare the money she would start him in business in a modest way Tom's chance was come Huck don't need it Huck's rich nothing but a heavy strain upon the good manners of the company kept back the two and proper complimentary laugh at this pleasant joke but the silence was a little awkward Tom broke it Huck's got money maybe you don't believe it but he's got lots of it oh you needn't smile I reckon I can show you you just wait a minute Tom ran out of doors the company looked at each other with a perplexed interest Huck, who was tongue-tied Sid, what else Tom said on Paulie he, well, there ain't ever any making of the boy Al, I never Tom entered struggling with the weight of his saxon and Paulie did not finish her sentence Tom poured the mass of yellow coin upon the table and said there, what did I tell you half of it's Huck's and half of it's mine the spectacle took the general breath away all gazed nobody spoke for a moment then there was an anonymous call for an explanation Tom said he could furnish it and he did the tale was long but brimful of interest there was carefully an interruption from anyone to break the charm of its flow when he had finished Mr. Jones said I thought I had fixed up a little surprise for this occasion but it don't amount to anything now this one makes it seem mighty small I'm willing to allow the money was counted the sum amounted to a little over $12,000 it was more than anyone present had ever seen at one time before though several persons were there who were worth considerably more than that in property End of Chapter 34 Recording by Bagia Chapter 35 of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain This is a LibriVox recording a LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Annalisa Bodker The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain Chapter 35 The reader may rest satisfied that Tom's and Huck's windfall made a mighty stir in the poor little village of St. Petersburg so vast a sum all in actual cash seemed next to incredible it was talked about gloated over glorified until the reason of many of the citizens tottered under the strain of the unhealthy excitement Every haunted house in St. Petersburg and the neighboring villages was dissected, plank by plank and its foundations dug up and ransacked for hidden treasure and not by boys but men and romantic 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 repeated everything they did seemed somehow to be regarded as remarkable they had evidently lost the power of doing and saying commonplace things moreover their past history was raked up and discovered to bear marks of conspicuous originality the village paper published biographical sketches of the boys the widow Douglas put Huck's money out at six percent and Judge Thatcher did the same with Tom's at Aunt Polly's request each lad had an income now that was simply prodigious, a dollar for every weekday in the year and half of the Sundays that was just what the minister got no, it was what he was promised he generally couldn't collect it a dollar and a quarter a week would board, lodge, and school a boy in those old simple days and clothe him and wash him too for that matter Judge Thatcher had conceived a great opinion of Tom he said that no commonplace boy could ever have got his daughter out of the cave when Becky told her father in strict confidence how Tom had taken her whipping at school the judge was visibly moved and when she pleaded grace for the mighty lie which Tom had told in order to shift that whipping from her shoulders to his own the judge said with a fine outburst that it was a noble, a generous a magnanimous lie a lie that was worthy to hold up its head and march down through history breast to breast with George Washington's lauded truth about the hatchet Becky thought her father had never looked so tall and so superb as when he walked the floor and stamped his foot and said that she went straight off and told Tom about it Judge Thatcher hoped to see Tom a great lawyer or a great soldier someday he said he meant to look to it that Tom should be admitted to the National Military Academy and afterward trained in the best law school in order that he might be ready for either career or both Huck Finswell and the fact that he was now under the widow Douglas protection introduced him 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 kept him clean and neat, combed and brushed and they bedded him nightly in unsympathetic sheets he could not or stay which he could press to his heart and know for a friend he had to eat with a knife and fork he had to use napkin, cup and plate he had to learn his book he had to go to church he had to talk so properly that speech was become insipid in his mouth whither so ever he turned the bars and shackles of civilization shut him in and bound him hand and foot he bore his miseries three weeks and then one day turned up missing for forty-eight hours the widow hunted for him everywhere in great distress the public were profoundly concerned they searched high and low they dragged the river for his body early the third morning Tom Sawyer wisely went poking among some old empty hogs heads down behind the abandoned slaughterhouse and in one of them he found the refugee Huck had slept there he had just breakfasted upon some stolen odds and ends of food and was lying off now in comfort with his pipe he was unkempt, uncombed and clad in the same old ruin of rags that had made him picturesque in the days when he was free and happy Tom routed him out told him the trouble he had been causing and urged him to go home Huck's face lost its tranquil content and took a melancholy cast he said don't talk about it Tom I've tried it and it don't work it don't work Tom it ain't for me I ain't used to it the widow'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 she makes me wash they comb me all to thunder she won't let me sleep in the woodshed I got to wear them blamed clothes that just smothers me Tom they don't seem to any air get through them somehow they are so rotten nice that I can't sit down nor lay down nor roll around anywhere I ain't slid on a cellar door for well it appears to be years I gotta go to church and sweat and sweat I hate them ornery sermons I can't catch a fly in there I can't y'all I got to wear shoes all Sunday the widow eats by a bell she goes to bed by a bell she gets up by a bell everything so awful regular a body can't stand it well everybody does it that way huh Tom it don't make no difference I ain't everybody and I can't stand it it's awful to be tied up so and grub comes too easy I don't take no interest in vitals that way I got to ask to go a fishing I got to ask to go in a swimming during if I ain't got to ask to do everything well I'd got to talk so nice it wasn't no comfort I'd got to go up in the attic and rip out a while every day to get a taste in my mouth or I'd have died Tom the widow wouldn't let me smoke she wouldn't let me yell she wouldn't let me gape nor stretch nor scratch before folks then with a spasm of special irritation and injury and dad fetch it she prayed all the time I had never seen such a woman I had to shove Tom I just had to and besides that school was going to open and I'd have had to go to it well I wouldn't stand without Tom look at here Tom being rich ain't what it's cracked up to be it's just worry and worry and sweat and I was wishing you was dead all the time now these clothes suits me and this barrel suits me and I ain't ever going to shake them anymore Tom I wouldn't ever got into all this trouble if I hadn't been for that money now you just take my share and give me a 10 cents or sometimes not many times because I don't give a darn for a thing thought it's tolerable hard to get and you go and beg off for me with the winter oh you know I can't do that taint fair and besides if you try this thing just a little while longer you'll come to like it like it yes the way I'd like a hot stove if I was to set on it long enough no Tom I won't be rich and I won't live in them cussed smothery houses I like the woods and the river and hogs heads and I'll stick to them too blame it all just as we'd got guns and a cave and all just fixed to Rob here this darn foolishness has got to come up and smile at all Tom saw his opportunity look at here Huck being rich ain't going to keep me back from turning to Robber no oh good licks are you in real deadwood earnest Tom just as dead earnest as I'm sitting here but Huck we can't let you 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 a general thing in most countries they're awful high up in the nobility Dukes and such now Tom ain't you always been friendly to me you wouldn't shut me out would you Tom you wouldn't do that now would you Tom Huck I wouldn't want to and I don't want to what would people say why they'd say the 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 for some time engaged in a mental struggle finally he said well I'll go back to the widow for a month and tackle it and see if I can come to stand it if you'll let me belong to the gang Tom all right Huck it's a weas come along old chap and I'll ask the widow to let up on you a little Huck will you Tom now will you that's good if she'll let up on some of the roughest things I'll smoke private and cuss private and crowd through or bust when are you going to start the gang and turn robbers oh right off we'll get the boys together and have the initiation tonight maybe have the wedge have the initiation what's that where to stand by one another and never tell the gang secrets even if you're chopped all to flinters and kill anybody and all his family that hurts one of the gang that's gay that's might of gay Tom I tell you well I bet it is and all that swearing's got to be done at midnight in the loomsomest awfulest place you can find a haunted house is the best but they're all ripped up now well midnight's good anyway Tom yeah so it is and you've got to swear on a coffin and sign it with blood now that's something like why it's a million times bullier than pirating I'll stick to the winter till I rock Tom and if I get to be a regular ripper of a robber and everybody's talking about it I reckon she'll be proud she snaked me in out of the wet end of chapter 35 reading by Annalisa Bodker conclusion of the adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain this is a LibriBooks recording all LibriBooks recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriBooks.org the adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain conclusion so in-depth is chronicle it being strictly a history of a boy it must stop here the story could not go much further without becoming the history of a man when one writes a novel about current people he knows exactly where to stop that is, with a marriage but when he writes of juveniles he must stop where he best can most of the characters that perform in this book still live and are prosperous and happy someday it may seem worthwhile to take up the story of the younger ones again and see what sort of men and women they tend out to be therefore it will be wisest not to reveal any of that part of their life that present end of conclusion end of the adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain