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06 - The Adventures of Tom Sawyer - Mark Twain · Classic Adventure Books - Daily

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  Speaker 1: Chapter eleven, Conscience Racks tom close upon the hour of noon.
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  Speaker 1: The whole village was suddenly electrified with the ghastly news.
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  Speaker 1: No need of the as yet undreamed of telegraph, the
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  Speaker 1: tale flew from man to man, from group to group,
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: from house to house, with little less than telegraphic speed.
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  Speaker 1: Of course, the schoolmaster gave holiday for that afternoon. The
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  Speaker 1: town would have thought strangely of him if he had not.
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  Speaker 1: A gory knife had been found close to the murdered man,
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  Speaker 1: and it had been recognized by somebody as belonging to
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  Speaker 1: Muff Potter. So the story ran, and it was said
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  Speaker 1: that a belated citizen had come upon Potter washing himself
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  Speaker 1: in the branch about one or two o'clock in the morning,
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  Speaker 1: and that Potter had at once sneaked off suspicious circumstances,
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  Speaker 1: especially the washing, which was not a habit with Potter.
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  Speaker 1: It was also said that the town had been ransacked
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  Speaker 1: for this murderer. The public are not slow in the
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  Speaker 1: matter of sifting evidence and arriving at a verdict, but
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  Speaker 1: that he could not be found. Horsemen had departed down
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  Speaker 1: all the roads in every direction, and the sheriff was
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  Speaker 1: confident that he would be captured. Before night. All the
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  Speaker 1: town was drifting toward the graveyard. Tom's heartbreak vanished, and
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  Speaker 1: he joined the procession, not because he would not a
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  Speaker 1: thousand times rather go anywhere else, but because an awful,
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  Speaker 1: unaccountable fascination drew him on. Arrived at the dreadful place,
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  Speaker 1: he wormed his small body through the crowd and saw
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  Speaker 1: the dismal spectacle. It seemed to him in age, since
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  Speaker 1: he was there before. Somebody pinched his arm. He turned
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  Speaker 1: and his eyes met Huckleberry's. Then both looked elsewhere at once,
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  Speaker 1: and wondered if anybody had noticed anything in their mutual glance.
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  Speaker 1: But everybody was talking and intent upon the grisly spectacle
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  Speaker 1: before them. Poor fellow, poor young fellow. This ought to
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  Speaker 1: be a lesson to grave robbers. Muff potter'll hang for
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  Speaker 1: this if they catch him. This was the drift of remark,
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  Speaker 1: and the minister said it was a judgment. His hand
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  Speaker 1: is here now. Tom shivered from head to heel, for
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  Speaker 1: his eye fell upon the stolid face of Injun Joe.
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  Speaker 1: At this moment, the crowd began to sway and struggle,
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  Speaker 1: and voices shouted, it's him, it's him. He's coming himself.
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  Speaker 1: Who who? From twenty voices muff Potter, Hallo, he stopped.
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  Speaker 1: Look out, he's turning. Don't let him get away. People
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  Speaker 1: in the branches of the trees over Tom's head said
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  Speaker 1: he wasn't trying to get away. He only looked doubtful
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  Speaker 1: and perplexed. Infernal impudence, said a bystander wanted to come
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  Speaker 1: and take a quiet look at his work. I reckon
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  Speaker 1: didn't expect any company. The crowd fell apart now, and
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  Speaker 1: the sheriff came through a steentpatiously leading Potter by the arm.
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  Speaker 1: The poor fellow's face was haggard, and his eyes showed
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  Speaker 1: the fear that was upon him. When he stood before
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  Speaker 1: the murdered man, he shook as with a palsy, and
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  Speaker 1: he put his face in his hands and burst into tears.
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  Speaker 1: I didn't do it for friends, he sobbed, upon my
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  Speaker 1: word an honor. I never done it. Who's accused? You?
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  Speaker 1: Shouted a voice. This shot seemed to carry home. Potter
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  Speaker 1: lifted his face and looked around him, with a pathetic
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  Speaker 1: hopelessness in his eyes. He saw injun Joe and exclaimed, oh,
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  Speaker 1: Injun Joe, you promised me you'd never is that your knife?
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  Speaker 1: And it was thrust before him by the sheriff. Potter
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  Speaker 1: would have fallen if they had caught him and eased
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  Speaker 1: him to the ground. Then he said, something's told me
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  Speaker 1: if I didn't come back and get He shuddered, and
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  Speaker 1: then waved his nerveless hand with a vanquished gesture, and said,
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  Speaker 1: tell him, Joe, tell him. It ain't any use any more.
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  Speaker 1: Then Huckleberry and Tom stood dumb and staring, and heard
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  Speaker 1: the stony hearted liar reel off his serene statement. They
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  Speaker 1: expecting every moment that the clear sky would deliver God's
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  Speaker 1: lightnings upon his head, and wondering to see how long
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  Speaker 1: the stroke was delayed, And when he had finished and
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  Speaker 1: still stood alive in whole, their wavering impulse to break
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  Speaker 1: their oath and save the poor betrayed prisoner's life faded
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  Speaker 1: and vanished away. For plainly this miscreant had sold himself
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  Speaker 1: to Satan, and it would be fatal to meddle with
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  Speaker 1: the property of such a power as that. Why didn't
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  Speaker 1: you leave? What did you want to come here for?
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  Speaker 1: Somebody said, I couldn't help it. I couldn't help it.
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  Speaker 1: Potter moaned, I wanted to run away, but I couldn't
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  Speaker 1: seem to come anywhere but here, and he fell to
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  Speaker 1: sobbing again. Injun Joe repeated his statement just as calmly.
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  Speaker 1: A few minutes afterwards, on the inquest under oath, and
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  Speaker 1: the boys, seeing that the lightnings were still withheld, were
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  Speaker 1: confirmed in their belief that Joe had sold himself to
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  Speaker 1: the devil. He was now become to them the most
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  Speaker 1: balefully interesting object they had ever looked upon, and they
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  Speaker 1: could not take their fascinated eyes from his face. They
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  Speaker 1: inwardly resolved to watch him nights when opportunity should offer,
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  Speaker 1: in the hope of getting a glimpse of his dread master.
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  Speaker 1: Injun Joe helped to raise the body of the murdered
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  Speaker 1: man and put it in a wagon for removal, and
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  Speaker 1: it was whispered through the shuddering crowd that the wound
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  Speaker 1: bled a little. The boys thought that this happy circumstance
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  Speaker 1: would turn suspicion in the right direction, but they were disappointed.
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  Speaker 1: For more than one villager remarked it was within three
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  Speaker 1: feet of Muff Potter when it'd done it. Tom's fearful
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  Speaker 1: secret and gnawing conscience disturbed his sleep for as much
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  Speaker 1: as a week after this, and at breakfast one morning,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: Sid said, Tom, you pitch around and talk in your
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  Speaker 1: sleep so much that you keep me awake half the time.
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  Speaker 1: Tom blanched and dropped his eyes. It's a bad sign,
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  Speaker 1: said Aunt Polly gravely. What you got on your mind? Tom,
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  Speaker 1: Nothing nothing to know of. But the boy's hand shook
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  Speaker 1: so that he spilled his coffee. And you do talk
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  Speaker 1: such stuff, Sid said. Last night you said it's blood.
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  Speaker 1: It's blood, that's what it is. You said that over
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  Speaker 1: and over, and you said, don't torment me. So I'll tell,
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  Speaker 1: tell what what is it? You'll tell Everything was swimming
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  Speaker 1: before Tom. There's no telling what might have happened now.
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  Speaker 1: But luckily the concern passed out of Aunt Polly's face,
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  Speaker 1: and she came to Tom's relief. Without knowing it. She said,
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  Speaker 1: Show it's that dreadful murder. I dream about it most
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  Speaker 1: every night myself. Sometimes I dream it's me that done it.
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  Speaker 1: Mary said she had been affected much the same way.
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  Speaker 1: Sid seemed satisfied. Tom got out of the presents as
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  Speaker 1: quick as he plausibly could, and after that he complained
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  Speaker 1: of a toothache for a week and tied up his
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  Speaker 1: jaws every night. He never knew that Sid lay nightly
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  Speaker 1: watching and frequently slipped the bandage free and then leaned
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  Speaker 1: on his elbow listening a good while at a time,
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  Speaker 1: and afterwards slipped the bandage back to its place again.
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  Speaker 1: Tom's distress of mind wore off gradually, and the toothache
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  Speaker 1: grew irksome and was discarded. If Sid really managed to
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  Speaker 1: make anything out of Tom's disjointed mutterings, he kept it
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  Speaker 1: to himself. It seemed to Tom that his schoolmates never would
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  Speaker 1: get done holding inquests on dead cats, and thus keeping
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  Speaker 1: his trouble present to his mind. Sid noticed that Tom
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  Speaker 1: never was coroner at one of these inquiries, though it
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  Speaker 1: had been his habit to take the lead in all
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  Speaker 1: new enterprises. He noticed too, that Tom never acted as
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  Speaker 1: a witness, and that was strange, and Sid did not
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  Speaker 1: overlook the fact that Tom even showed a marked aversion
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  Speaker 1: to these inquests and always avoided them when he could.
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  Speaker 1: Sid marveled but said nothing. However, even inquests went out
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  Speaker 1: of vogue at last and ceased to torture Tom's conscience.
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  Speaker 1: Every day or two during this time of sorrow, Tom
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  Speaker 1: watched his opportunity and went to the little grated jail
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  Speaker 1: window and smuggled such small comforts through to the murderer
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  Speaker 1: as he could get hold of. The jail was a
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  Speaker 1: train fafling little brick den that stood in a marsh
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  Speaker 1: at the edge of the village, and no guards were
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  Speaker 1: afforded for it. Indeed, it was seldom occupied. These offerings
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  Speaker 1: greatly helped to ease Tom's conscience. The villagers had a
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  Speaker 1: strong desire to tar and feather injun Joe and ride
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  Speaker 1: him on a rail for body snatching, but so formidable
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  Speaker 1: was his character that nobody could be found who was
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  Speaker 1: willing to take the lead in the matter, so it
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  Speaker 1: was dropped. He had been careful to begin both of
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  Speaker 1: his inquest statements with the fight without confessing the grave
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  Speaker 1: robbery that preceded it. Therefore, it was deemed wisest not
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  Speaker 1: to try the case in the courts. At present end
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  Speaker 1: of chapter eleven, Chapter twelve, The Cat and the Painkiller.
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  Speaker 1: One of the reasons why Tom's mind had drifted away
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  Speaker 1: from its secret troubles was that it had found a
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  Speaker 1: new and weighty matter to interest itself about Becky. Thatcher
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  Speaker 1: had stopped coming to school. Tom had struggled with his
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  Speaker 1: pride a few days and tried to whistle her down
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  Speaker 1: the wind, but failed. He began to find himself hanging
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  Speaker 1: around her father's house nights and feeling very miserable. She
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  Speaker 1: was ill. What if she should die? There was distraction
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  Speaker 1: in the thought. He no longer took an interest in war,
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  Speaker 1: nor even in piracy. The charm of life was gone.
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  Speaker 1: There was nothing but dreariness left. He put his hoop
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  Speaker 1: away and his bat. There was no joy in them
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  Speaker 1: any more. His aunt was concerned. She began to try
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  Speaker 1: all manner of remedies on him. She was one of
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  Speaker 1: those people who are infatuated with patent medicines and all
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  Speaker 1: new fangled methods of producing health or mending it. She
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: was an inveterate experimenter in these things. When something fresh
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  Speaker 1: in this line came out, she was in a fever
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  Speaker 1: right away to try it, not on herself, for she
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: was never ailing, but on anybody else that came handy.
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  Speaker 1: She was a subscriber for all the health periodicals and
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  Speaker 1: phenomological frauds, and the solemn ignorance they were inflated with
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  Speaker 1: was breath to her nostrils. All the rot they contained
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  Speaker 1: about ventilation and how to go to bed and how
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  Speaker 1: to get up, and what to eat and what to drink,
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  Speaker 1: and how much exercise to take, and what frame of
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  Speaker 1: mind to keep one's self in, and what sort of
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: clothing to wear was all gospel to her, and she
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: never observed that her health journals of the current month
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  Speaker 1: customarily upset everything they had recommended the month before. She
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  Speaker 1: was as simple hearted and honest as the day was long,
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: and so she was an easy victim. She gathered together
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  Speaker 1: her quack periodicals and her quack medicines, and thus armed
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  Speaker 1: with death, went about on her pale horse, metaphorically speaking
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  Speaker 1: with the hell following after. But she never suspected that
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  Speaker 1: she was not an angel of healing and the balm
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  Speaker 1: of Gilead in disguise to the suffering neighbors. The water
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: treatment was new now, and Tom's low condition was a
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  Speaker 1: windfall to her. She had him out at daylight every morning,
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  Speaker 1: stood him up in the wood shed, and drowned him
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  Speaker 1: with a deluge of cold water. Then she scrubbed him
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  Speaker 1: down with a towel like a file, and so brought
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  Speaker 1: him to Then she rolled him up in a wet
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  Speaker 1: sheet and put him away under blankets till she sweated
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  Speaker 1: his soul clean, and the yellow stains of it came
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  Speaker 1: through his pores, as Tom said. Yet notwithstanding all this,
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  Speaker 1: the boy grew more and more melancholy and pale and dejected.
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  Speaker 1: She had at hot baths, sitz baths, shower baths, and plunges,
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  Speaker 1: the boy remained as dismal as a hearse. She began
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  Speaker 1: to assist the water with a slim oatmeal diet and
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: blister plasters. She calculated his capacity as she would a JUG's,
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  Speaker 1: and filled him up every day with quack curroles. Tom
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  Speaker 1: had become indifferent to persecution. By this time. This phase
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  Speaker 1: filled the old lady's heart with consternation. This indifference must
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: be broken up at any cost. Now she heard of
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  Speaker 1: pain killer for the first time. She ordered a lot
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  Speaker 1: at once. She tasted it and was filled with gratitude.
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  Speaker 1: It was simply fire in a liquid form. She dropped
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  Speaker 1: the water treatment and everything else, and pinned her faith
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  Speaker 1: to painkiller. She gave Tom a teaspoonful and watched with
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  Speaker 1: the deepest anxiety. For the result, her troubles were instantly
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  Speaker 1: at rest, her soul at peace again. For the indifference
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  Speaker 1: was broken up. The boy could not have shown a wilder,
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  Speaker 1: heartier interest if she had built a fire under him.
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Tom felt that it was time to wake up. This
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  Speaker 1: sort of life might be romantic enough in his blighted condition,
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: but it was getting to have too little sentiment and
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: too much distracting variety about it. So he thought over
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: various plans for relief, and finally hit upon that of
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  Speaker 1: professing to be fond of pain killer. He asked for
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: it so often that he became a nuisance, and his
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: aunt ended by telling him to help himself and quit
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  Speaker 1: bothering her. If it had been sid, she would have
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: had no misgivings to alloy her delight, but since it
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  Speaker 1: was Tom, she watched the bottle clandestinely. She found that
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  Speaker 1: the medicine did really diminish, but it did not occur
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  Speaker 1: to her that the boy was mending the health of
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: a crack in the sitting room floor with it. One day,
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  Speaker 1: Tom was in the act of dosing the crack when
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: his aunt's yellow cat came along, purring, eyeing the teaspoon
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  Speaker 1: avariciously and begging for a taste. Tom said, don't ask
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  Speaker 1: for it unless you want it, Peter, But Peter signified
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: that he did want it, you better make sure, Peter
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: was sure. Now you've asked for it, and I'll give
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  Speaker 1: it to you, because there ain't anything mean about me.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: But if you find you don't like it, you mustn't
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: blame anybody but your own self. Peter was agreeable, so
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: Tom pried his mouth open and poured down the painkiller.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: Peter sprang a couple of yards in the air, and
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: then delivered a war whoop and set off round and
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: round the room, banging against furniture, upsetting flower pots, and
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: making general havoc. Next, he rose on his hind feet
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: and pranced around in a frenzy of enjoyment, with his
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: head over his shoulder and his voice proclaiming his unappeasable happiness.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: Then he went tearing around the house again, spreading chaos
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  Speaker 1: and destruction in his path. Aunt Polly entered in time
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: to see him throw a few double somersets, deliver a
• 14:29
  Speaker 1: final mighty hurrah, and sail through the open window, carrying
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: the rest of the flower pots with him. The old
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: lady stood petrified with astonishment, peering over her glasses. Tom
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: lay on the floor, expiring with laughter, Tom, what on
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: earth ails that cat? I don't know, Aunt gasped the boy.
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  Speaker 1: Why I never see anything like it? What did make
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: him act so? Deed? I don't know, Aunt Polly, cats
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  Speaker 1: always act so when they're having a good time. They do,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: do they? There was something in the tone that made
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: Tom apprehensive. Yes'm, that is I believe they do? You do? Yes'm?
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: The old lady was bending down. Tom watching with interest
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: emphasized by anxiety. Too late, he divined her drift. The
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: handle of the tell tale teaspoon was visible under the
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: bed valance. Aunt Polly took it, held it up. Tom
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: winced and dropped his eyes. Aunt Polly raised him by
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: the usual handle his ear, and cracked his head soundly
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: with her thimble. Now, sir, what did you want to
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: treat that poor dumb beast so for? I'd done it
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: out of pity for him, because he hadn't any aunt,
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: hadn't any Aunt, You numskull? What has that got to
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: do with it? Heaps, Because if he'd a had one,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: she'd a burnt him out herself, she'd a roasted his
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: bowels out of him, thout any more feeling than if
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: he was a human. Aunt Polly felt a sudden pang
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: of remorse. This was putting the thing in a new light.
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  Speaker 1: What was cruelty to a cat might be cruelty to
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: a boy too. She began to soften. She felt sorry.
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  Speaker 1: Her eyes watered a little, and she put her hand
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  Speaker 1: on Tom's head and said gently, I was meaning for
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  Speaker 1: the best, Tom, and Tom, it did do you good.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: Tom looked up in her face, with just a perceptible
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: twinkle peeping through his gravity. I know you was meaning
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: for the best, Auntie, and so was I With Peter.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: It done him good too. I never seen him get around.
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: So since, oh, go along with you, Tom, before you
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: aggravate me again, and you try and see if you
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: can't be a good boy for once, and you needn't
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: take any more medicine. Tom reached school ahead of time.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: It was noticed that this strange thing had been occurring
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: every day latterly, and now, as usual of late, he
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: hung about the gate of the schoolyard instead of playing
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: with his comrades. He was sick, he said, and he
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: looked it. He tried to seem to be looking everywhere,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: but whither he really was looking down the road. Presently.
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: Jeff Thatcher how in sight, and Tom's face lighted. He
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: gazed a moment, and then turned sorrowfully away. When Jeff arrived,
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Tom accosted him and led up warily to opportunities for
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: remark about Becky. But the giddy lad never could see
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: the bait. Tom watched and watched, hoping whenever a frisking
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: frock came in sight, and hating the owner of it
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: as soon as he saw she was not the right one.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: At last, frocks ceased to appear, and he dropped hopelessly
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: into their dumps. He entered the empty schoolhouse and sat
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: down to suffer. Then one more frock passed in at
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: the gate, and Tom's heart gave a great bound. The
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: next instant he was out and going on like an Indian,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: yelling and laughing and chasing boys, jumping over the fence
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: at risk of life and limb throwing hand springs, standing
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: on his head, doing all the heroic things he could
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: conceive of, and keeping a furtive eye out all the
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: while to see if Becky Thatcher was noticing. But she
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: seemed to be unconscious of it all. She never looked.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Could it be possible that she was not aware that
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: he was there? He carried his exploits to her immediate vicinity.
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Came war whooping around, snatched a body's cap, hurled it
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: to the roof of the schoolhouse, broke through a group
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: of boys, tumbling them in every direction, and fell, sprawling
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: himself under Becky's nose, almost upsetting her. And she turned
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: with her nose in the air, and he heard her say, humph,
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: some people think they're mighty smart, always showing off. Tom's
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: cheeks burned, he gathered himself up and sneaked off, crushed
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: and crestfallen. End of chapter twelve.