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

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty seven. Trembling on the trail, the adventure of
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  Speaker 1: the day mightily tormented Tom's dreams. That night, four times
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  Speaker 1: he had his hands on that rich treasure, and four
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  Speaker 1: times it wasted to nothingness in his fingers as sleep
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  Speaker 1: forsook him and wakefulness brought back the hard reality of
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  Speaker 1: his misfortune. As he lay in the early morning recalling
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  Speaker 1: the incidents of his great adventure, he noticed that they
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  Speaker 1: seemed curiously subdued and far away, somewhat as if they
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  Speaker 1: had happened in another world or in a time long
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  Speaker 1: gone by. Then it occurred to him that the great
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  Speaker 1: Adventure itself must be a dream. There was one very
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  Speaker 1: strong argument in favor of this idea, namely that the
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  Speaker 1: quantity of coin he had seen was too vast to
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  Speaker 1: be real. He had never seen as much as fifty
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  Speaker 1: dollars in one mass before, and he was like all
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  Speaker 1: boys of his age and station in life in that
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  Speaker 1: he imagined that all references to hundreds and thousands were
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  Speaker 1: mere founds forms of speech, and that no such sums
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  Speaker 1: really existed in the world. He never had supposed for
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  Speaker 1: a moment that so large a sum as a hundred
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  Speaker 1: dollars was to be found in actual money in any
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  Speaker 1: one's possession. If his notions of hidden treasure had been analyzed,
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  Speaker 1: they would have been found to consist of a handful
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  Speaker 1: of real dimes and a bushel of vague, splendid, ungraspable dollars.
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  Speaker 1: But the incidents of his adventure grew sensibly sharper and
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  Speaker 1: clearer under the attrition of thinking them over, and so
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  Speaker 1: he presently found himself leaning to the impression that the
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  Speaker 1: thing might not have been a dream. After all, this
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  Speaker 1: uncertainty must be swept away. He would snatch a hurried
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  Speaker 1: breakfast and go and find Huck. Huck was sitting on
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  Speaker 1: the gunwale of a flat boat, listlessly, dangling his feet
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  Speaker 1: in the water and looking very melancholy. Tom concluded to
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  Speaker 1: let Huck lead up to the subject. If he did
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  Speaker 1: not do it, then the adventure would be proved to
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  Speaker 1: have been only a dream. Hello Huck, Hello yourself. Silence
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  Speaker 1: for a minute, Tom. If we'd a left the blame
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  Speaker 1: tools at the dead tree, we'd a got the money. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: ain't it awful? Tain't a dream? Then? Tain't a dream? Somehow?
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  Speaker 1: I most wish it was dogged. If I don't Huck
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  Speaker 1: what ain't a dream? Oh that thing yesterday i'd been
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  Speaker 1: half thinkin it was dream. If them stairs hadn't broke down,
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  Speaker 1: you'd have seen how much dream it was. I've had
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  Speaker 1: dreams enough all night with that patch eyed Spanish devil
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  Speaker 1: going for me all through em. Rot him, no, not
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  Speaker 1: rot him, find him, track the money, Tom, we'll never
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  Speaker 1: find him. A feller don't have only one chance for
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  Speaker 1: such a pile, and that one's lost. I'd feel mighty
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  Speaker 1: shaky if I was to see him anyway, Well, so'd i.
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  Speaker 1: But I'd like to see him anyway. Track him out
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  Speaker 1: to his number two number two. Yes, that's it. I've
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  Speaker 1: been thinking about that, but I can't make nothing out
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  Speaker 1: of it. What do you reckon it is? I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: It's too deep, say Huck. Maybe it's the number of
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  Speaker 1: a house. Goody, No, Tom, that ain't it. If it is,
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  Speaker 1: it ain't in this one horse town. They ain't no
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  Speaker 1: numbers here. Well that's so, let me think a minute. Here,
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  Speaker 1: it's the number of a room in a tavern, you know.
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  Speaker 1: Oh that's the trick. They ain't only two taverns. We
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  Speaker 1: can find out quick. You stay here, Huck, till I
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  Speaker 1: come Tom was off at once. He did not care
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  Speaker 1: to have Huck's company in public places. He was gone
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  Speaker 1: half an hour. He found that in the best tavern,
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  Speaker 1: number two had long been occupied by a young lawyer,
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  Speaker 1: and was still so occupied. In the less ostentatious house,
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  Speaker 1: Number two was a mystery. The tavern keeper's young son
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  Speaker 1: said it was kept locked all the time, and he
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  Speaker 1: never saw anybody go into it or come out of it,
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  Speaker 1: except at night. He did not know any particular reason
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  Speaker 1: for this state of things. Had had some little curiosity,
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  Speaker 1: but it was rather feeble. Had made the most of
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  Speaker 1: the mystery by entertaining himself with the idea that the
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  Speaker 1: room was haunted. Had noticed that there was a light
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  Speaker 1: in there the night before. That's what I've found out, Huck.
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  Speaker 1: I reckon, that's the very number two we're after. I
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  Speaker 1: reckon it is, Tom. Now what you going to do?
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  Speaker 1: Let me think. Tom thought a long time. Then he said,
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  Speaker 1: I'll tell you. The back door of that number two
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  Speaker 1: is the door that comes out into the little close
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  Speaker 1: alley between the tavern and the old rattle trap of
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  Speaker 1: a brick store. Now you get hold of all the
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  Speaker 1: door keys you can find, and I'll nip all the bounties,
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  Speaker 1: and the first dark night, we'll go there and try him.
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  Speaker 1: And mind you keep a look out for injun Joe,
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  Speaker 1: because he said he was going to drop into town
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  Speaker 1: and spy around once more for a chance to get
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  Speaker 1: his revenge. If you see him, you just follow him.
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  Speaker 1: And if he don't go to that number two, that
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  Speaker 1: ain't the place, Lordy, I don't want to follow him
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  Speaker 1: by myself. Why it'll be a night. Sure he might
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  Speaker 1: never see you, and if he did, maybe he'd never
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  Speaker 1: think anything. Well, if it's it's pretty dark, I reckon
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  Speaker 1: I'll track him. I don't know, I don't know. I'll try.
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  Speaker 1: You bet, I'll follow him if it's dark, Huck, why
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  Speaker 1: he might have found the out he couldn't get his
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  Speaker 1: revenge and and be going right after that money. It's so, Tom,
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  Speaker 1: it's so, I'll follow him. I will buy jingoes. Now
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  Speaker 1: you're talking. Don't you ever weaken? Huck? And I won't.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter twenty seven, Chapter twenty eight. In the
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  Speaker 1: Lair of Injun Joe. That night, Tom and Huck were
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  Speaker 1: ready for their adventure. They hung about the neighborhood of
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  Speaker 1: the Tavern until after nine one, watching the alley at
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  Speaker 1: a distance, and the other the tavern door. Nobody entered
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  Speaker 1: the alley or left it. Nobody resembling the spaniard entered
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  Speaker 1: or left the tavern door. The knight promised to be
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  Speaker 1: a fair one, so Tom went home with the understanding
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  Speaker 1: that if a considerable degree of darkness came on, Huck
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  Speaker 1: was to come and mow, whereupon he would slip out
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  Speaker 1: and try the keys. But the night remained clear, and
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  Speaker 1: Huck closed his watch and retired to bed in an
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  Speaker 1: empty sugar hogshead. About twelve Tuesday. The boys had the
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  Speaker 1: same ill luck also Wednesday, but Thursday night promised better.
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  Speaker 1: Tom slipped out in good season with his aunt's old
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  Speaker 1: tin lantern and a large towel to blindfold it with.
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  Speaker 1: He hid the lantern and Huck's sugar hogshead, and the
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  Speaker 1: watch began. An hour before midnight. The tavern closed up
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  Speaker 1: and its lights, the only ones thereabouts, were put out.
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  Speaker 1: No spaniard had been seen, Nobody entered or left the alley.
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  Speaker 1: Everything was auspicious. The blackness of darkness reigned. The perfect
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  Speaker 1: stillness was interrupted only by occasional mutterings of distant thunder.
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  Speaker 1: Tom got his lantern lit it in the hogshead, wrapped
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  Speaker 1: it closely in the towel, and the two adventurers crept
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  Speaker 1: in the gloom toward the tavern. Huck stood sentry and
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  Speaker 1: Tom felt his way into the alley. Then there was
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  Speaker 1: a season of waiting, anxiety that weighed upon Huck's spirits
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  Speaker 1: like a mountain. He began to wish he could see
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  Speaker 1: a flash from the lantern. It would frighten him, but
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  Speaker 1: it would at least tell him that Tom was alive.
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  Speaker 1: Yet it seemed hours since Tom had disappeared. Surely he
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  Speaker 1: must have fainted, Maybe he was dead, maybe his heart
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  Speaker 1: had burst Under terror and excitement. In his uneasiness, Huck
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  Speaker 1: found himself drawing closer and closer to the alley, fearing
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  Speaker 1: all sorts of dreadful things, and momentarily expecting some catastrophe
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  Speaker 1: to happen that would take away his breath. There was
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  Speaker 1: not much to take away, for he seemed only able
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  Speaker 1: to inhale it by thimblefuls, and his heart would soon
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  Speaker 1: wear itself out the way it was beating. Suddenly there
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  Speaker 1: was a flash of light, and Tom came tearing by him. Run, said,
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  Speaker 1: he run for your life. He needn't have repeated it
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  Speaker 1: once was enough. Huck was making thirty or forty miles
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  Speaker 1: an hour before the repetition was uttered. The boys never
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  Speaker 1: stopped till they reached the shed of a deserted slaughter
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  Speaker 1: house at the lower end of the village. Just as
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  Speaker 1: they got within its shelter, the storm burst and the
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  Speaker 1: rain poured down. As soon as Tom got his breath,
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  Speaker 1: he said, Huck, it was awful. I tried two of
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  Speaker 1: the keys, just as soft as I could, but they
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  Speaker 1: seemed to make such a power of a racket that
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  Speaker 1: I couldn't hardly get my breath. I was so scared
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  Speaker 1: they wouldn't turn in the lock either. Well, without noticing
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  Speaker 1: what I was doing, I took hold of the knob
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  Speaker 1: and open comes the door. It warn't locked. I hopped
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  Speaker 1: in and shook off the towel, and Great Caesar's ghost.
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  Speaker 1: What what you see, Tom Hack? I most stepped onto
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  Speaker 1: Injine Joe's hand. No, yes, he was laying there, sound
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  Speaker 1: asleep on the floor, with his old patch on his
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  Speaker 1: eye and his arms spread out. Lord, he would you do?
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  Speaker 1: Did he wake up? No? Never budged drunk, I reckon.
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  Speaker 1: I just grabbed that towel and started I'd never thought
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  Speaker 1: of the towel, I bet well I would. My aunt
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  Speaker 1: would make me mighty sick if I lost it. Say Tom,
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  Speaker 1: did you see that box? Hack? I didn't wait to
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  Speaker 1: look around. I didn't see the box. I didn't see
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  Speaker 1: the cross. I didn't see anything but a bottle and
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  Speaker 1: a tin cup on the floor by engine. Yes, and
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  Speaker 1: I saw two barrels and lots more bottles in the room.
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  Speaker 1: Don't you see? Now? What's the matter with that hanted room?
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  Speaker 1: How why it's hanted with whiskey? Maybe all the temperance
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  Speaker 1: taverns have got a handed room. Hey, Huck, Well, I reckon.
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  Speaker 1: Maybe that's so. Who'd have thought such a thing? But
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  Speaker 1: say Tom, now's a mighty good time to get that box.
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  Speaker 1: If Injune Joe's drunk, it is that you try it.
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  Speaker 1: Huck shuddered. Well, no, I reckon not, and I reckon not, Huck.
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  Speaker 1: Only one bottle alongside of engine Joe ain't enough. If
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  Speaker 1: there'd been three, he'd be drunk enough, and I'd do it.
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  Speaker 1: There was a long pause for reflection, and then Tom said,
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  Speaker 1: look here, Huck, let's not try that thing anymore till
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  Speaker 1: we know Injune Joe's not in there. It's too scary. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if we watch every night, we'll be dead sure to
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  Speaker 1: see him go out sometime or other, and then we'll
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  Speaker 1: snatch that box quicker in lightning. Well, I'm agreed. I'll
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  Speaker 1: watch the whole night long, and I'll do it every
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  Speaker 1: night too, if you'll do the other part of the job,
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  Speaker 1: all right, I will. All you got to do is
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  Speaker 1: to trot up Hooper Street a block and mow, and
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  Speaker 1: if I'm asleep, you throw some gravel at the window
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  Speaker 1: and that'll fetch me. Agreed, and good as wheat. Now, Huck,
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  Speaker 1: the storm's over and I'll go home. It'll begin to
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  Speaker 1: be daylight in a couple hours. You go back and
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  Speaker 1: watch that long, will you? I said I would, Tom,
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  Speaker 1: and I will. I'll haunt that tavern every night for
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  Speaker 1: a year. I'll sleep all day and I'll stand watch
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  Speaker 1: all night. That's all right. Now, where are you going
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  Speaker 1: to sleep in? Ben rogers Hayloft? He lets me, and
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  Speaker 1: so does his PAP's nigger man, Uncle Jake. I tote
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  Speaker 1: water for Uncle Jake whenever he wants me to, and
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  Speaker 1: anytime I ask him, he gives me a little something
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  Speaker 1: to eat. If he can spare it. That's a mighty
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  Speaker 1: good nigger. Tom. He likes me because I don't ever
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  Speaker 1: act as if I was above him. Sometimes I've set
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  Speaker 1: right down and eat with him. But you needn't tell that.
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  Speaker 1: A body's got to do things when he's awful hungry,
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  Speaker 1: he wouldn't want to do as a steady thing. Well,
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  Speaker 1: if I don't want you in the daytime, i'll let
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  Speaker 1: you sleep. I won't come bothering round anytime you see
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  Speaker 1: something's up in the night. Just skip right around and now.
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  Speaker 1: End of chapter twenty eight.