The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 1844-the Mississippi River, North America. Tom Sawyer lives with his Aunt Polly in St Petersburg, Missouri. Tom and his friend, Huckleberry Finn, are always in trouble. One night, Tom and Huckleberry see a fight between Injun Joe, the Doctor and Muff Potter. Bravo! Readers Level 6 This graded series of fiction and non-fiction stories provides a choice of enjoyable reading material for young learners of English. ISBN 978-1-4050-6563-4 HEINEMANN ELT
A note about this story The story of this famous American novel takes place in the USA 1844. Some of it takes place in the town of St Petersburg, on the Mississippi River. Some of it takes place in some caves near the town. The real name of the town called St Petersburg in this story is Hannibal. Hannibal is in the state of Missouri. The real name of the writer of this story was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. When he wrote his novels and stories, he used the name Mark Twain. He lived in Hannibal for many years. He was born in 1835 and he died in 1910. People in this story Huckleberry Finn Aunt Polly Picture dictionary Becky Thatcher Injun Joe Muff Potter a shovel a barrow a coffin The stranger Judge Thatcher 2 3
1. 'Look behind you!' 'Tom!' There was no reply. 'Tom!' There was still no reply. 'Where is he?' said Aunt Polly. But she was speaking to herself. She went to the door of the kitchen and looked out into the garden. 'TOM!' she shouted. But Tom wasn t in the garden. Then Aunt Polly heard a noise in the kitchen. The noise came from somewhere behind her. She turned round and she saw the boy. He was coming out of her big food cupboard. He started to run towards the door. But Aunt Polly grabbed his jacket, and he stopped. 'Why were you in the food cupboard, Tom?' Aunt Polly asked the boy. Then she saw Tom's mouth. His lips were very red. 'You were eating my fruit!' Aunt Polly said. 'Oh, Tom! You are a bad boy!' The old lady lifted her hand. 'Tom Sawyer, I'm going to punish you,' she said. 'Look behind you. Aunt Polly!' said Tom. Aunt Polly let go of the boy's jacket and turned round quickly. Tom ran away. He ran into the garden and he climbed over the fence. Then he was gone! 'Tom Sawyer!' said Aunt Polly. Then she laughed. 'He always plays tricks on me,' she said to herself. 'And I never learn!' She thought about the boy and his difficult life. The year was 1844 and Tom was eleven years old. His parents were dead. Aunt Polly - Tom's father's sister -took care of him. Tom lived with her in her house in St Petersburg, in the state of Missouri. Tom was not a clean and tidy boy. He didn't help Aunt Polly with the housework. He often behaved badly. But the old lady loved him very much. She loved him, but she worried about him too. 'He must behave better,' she said to herself. 'He stole my fruit, so I must punish him. He must do some work for me. Tomorrow is Saturday. He won't be at school on Saturday. Tomorrow, Tom will paint the garden fence.'
2. The fence It was Saturday morning, so Tom was not at school. But he had to work. He had to paint the fence - the long fence round the garden of Aunt Polly's house. Tom had a big bucket, full of paint. He had a paintbrush with a long handle. He looked at the fence. 'I don't want to paint this fence,' he thought. 'I want to go fishing and I want to go swimming. I want to play with my friends. When they see me painting this fence, my friends will laugh at me. But I have to do it, because Aunt Polly is angry with me.' Tom started to paint. After an hour, Tom was tired. He looked sadly at the big bucket. There was still a lot of paint in it. And there was still a lot of unpainted fence. Suddenly he had an idea. He smiled, then he started painting again. Soon he saw one of his friends - Ben Rogers. Ben was walking towards him. Ben was making strange noises. 'This morning, I'm a steamboat,' said Ben. 'Sssh! Sssh!' Ben was making the sound of a steamboat's engine. 'Sssh! Sssh! Ting-a-ling! Ting-a-ling.' Now he was making the sound of a steamboat's bell. This morning, Ben Rogers was a steamboat on the Mississippi River. But he was also a boy holding an apple. It was a large red apple. It was a good apple! 'I'm going swimming,' Ben said. 'But you have to work.' He laughed. 'I'm not working,' said Tom. 'This isn't work!' 'It isn't work? Do you like painting that fence?' asked Ben. He was surprised. 'Yes,' said Tom. 'It's fun!' He continued painting. Ben watched Tom. Tom painted for a while. Then he stopped and looked at the fence for a minute. Then he started painting again. He smiled happily. After a while, Ben spoke again. 'Let me paint the fence, Tom,' he said. 'No,' Tom replied. 'It's a difficult job. It's very difficult to paint a fence.' Ben wasn't happy. Tom liked painting the fence, so Ben wanted to paint it too. 'Tom, please let me paint it,' he said. 'I'll give you some of my apple.' Tom stopped painting and thought for a minute. 'No,' he said. Then he smiled and started painting again. 'I'll give you all of my apple,' Ben said. Tom thought again. 'All right,' he said. So Tom sat down on the ground and started to eat Ben's apple. And Ben started to paint the fence. 6
After an hour, Ben was tired. He gave the bucket and the paintbrush back to Tom. Then he walked away, towards the river. 'Sssh! Sssh! Ting-a-ling!' he said. He was a steamboat again. A moment later, Tom saw another friend coming towards him. This boy's name was Billy Fisher. Billy was holding a kite. 'Hello Tom,' Billy said. 'Ben Rogers was painting your fence. Please let me paint it too.' 'No,' Tom replied. 'Lots of boys want to paint this fence. But it's very difficult to paint a fence.' 'Oh!' said Billy. He didn't say anything else. 'Ben gave me his apple,' Tom said. 'Then he painted the fence.' Billy thought for a while. 'I'll give you my kite,' he said. 'All right,' said Tom. So Tom sat down again and Billy started to paint the fence. The morning passed. Lots of friends came and went. The fence was painted twice. By one o'clock, Tom had a kite, a cat and a long piece of rope. He had a cake, some glass balls and a metal door-handle. He was happy. 'The fence is finished,' he told Aunt Polly. Aunt Polly was surprised but she was pleased. 'You're a good boy, Tom,' she said.
3. The girl with yellow hair One afternoon, Tom was walking past Jeff Thatcher's house. Jeff was the same age as Tom, but he wasn't Tom's friend. Jeff's father was a lawyer in the town. He was an important man. Tom wasn't looking for Jeff and he didn't see Jeff. But he saw a girl. She was in the garden of Jeff's house. She had yellow hair and blue eyes. She was beautiful! Suddenly, Tom was in love! He was in love with the girl with yellow hair and blue eyes. Tom looked at her and she looked at him. He didn't speak. She didn't speak. Tom performed some clever tricks. He stood on his head. He walked along the top of the garden fence. Tom was very happy. 'She smiled at me!' he said to himself. He ran home, and he thought about the girl for the rest of the day. That night, Tom went back to Jeff Thatcher's house. He stood in the street near the house. He looked at the house for an hour, but he didn't see the girl. Then he had an idea. He climbed over the garden fence and stood underneath a window. He wanted to call to the girl, but he didn't know her name. So he made a noise -the noise of a cat. 'MI-AOW! MI-AOW!' called Tom. 'MI-AOW!' Suddenly, someone opened the window above him and threw some water over his head. Then Tom heard the window closing. He quickly climbed over the fence and picked up a stone from the street. He threw the stone at the window. He heard the sound of glass breaking and he started to run. Tom arrived late at school the next morning. The other children were already in the classroom. Tom went into the room and he had a surprise. The girl with yellow hair was sitting there. Tom sat down next to her. 'Hello,' he said. 'I'm Tom Sawyer. Who are you?' 'My name is Becky Thatcher,' the girl replied. 'Jeff Thatcher is my cousin. My father is a judge. We came here last week. We're going to live in St Petersburg, and my father is going to be the town's judge.' The girl still didn't speak, but she smiled at Tom. Then she turned and went into the house. 10 11
Tom knew about the new judge. He was a very important man. He was a more important man than Jeff's father. Tom wanted Becky to like him. He wanted to please her, so he drew a picture on a piece of paper. He drew a picture of a house. 'That's good,' said Becky. 'Now draw a man.' Tom drew a picture of a man in front of the house. The man was bigger than the house. It wasn't a very good picture, but Becky liked it. 'That's good too, Tom,' she said. 'Now draw me.' Tom took a new piece of paper and he drew a picture. Was it a good picture of Becky? No it wasn't, but she still liked it. 'Will you teach me to draw, Tom?' she asked. 'I'll teach you at lunchtime,' Tom replied. Then he wrote I LIKE YOU on the picture of Becky. 'You're a bad boy, Tom,' Becky said. And she smiled at him. 4. Huckleberry Finn Tom had a special friend in St Petersburg. His name was Huckleberry Finn. 'Huckleberry' is a long name, so most people called the boy 'Huck'. He was a bit older than Tom. Every day, Aunt Polly told Tom to be good. Tom's friends' mothers told their sons to be good every day too. But nobody told Huck to be good. Huck didn't live with anybody. He had no brothers or sisters. His mother was dead and his father lived a long way from St Petersburg. Mr Finn was a bad man. He didn't like Huck and Huck didn't like him! So Huck was a happy boy. Nobody told him to be good. In fine weather, he slept outside, by the river. In bad weather, he slept inside, in a farmer's barn. He wore old, dirty clothes and he didn't wear any shoes. But the best thing of all was this - he didn't ever go to school! Most of the boys in St Petersburg liked Huck. He had a good life. One Monday morning, Tom was walking to school. He met Huck in the lane. Tom wasn't happy because he didn't like Monday mornings. Huck was very happy. He was happy because he wasn't going to school. He was happy because he had a dead cat. He was carrying the cat by its legs. The two boys talked as they walked along the lane. Huck gave Tom news about some of their friends.
But something was worrying Tom. 'Why have you got a dead cat, Huck?' he asked. 'A dead cat can cure warts,' Huck replied. Tom looked at Huck's hands and he looked at his own hands. 'We've both got warts,' Tom said. He pointed at the little hard lumps on Huck's fingers. 'But how can a dead cat cure them?' 'You have to wait for the death of a bad man,' Huck replied. 'When a bad man dies, people take his body to a graveyard. They bury his body in the ground. That night, you have to take your dead cat to the graveyard, at midnight.' 'Why?' asked Tom. 'Ghosts come to the graveyard at midnight,' Huck continued. 'They come and they take the dead man's spirit away. The cat's spirit follows the spirit of the dead man. And the warts follow the spirit of the cat. The cat cures your warts. Everybody knows that!' Tom didn't know that. But he was very interested in Huck's news. 'Let's go to the graveyard tonight, Huck,' he said. 'Hoss Williams will be buried today. Hoss was a very bad man, so the ghosts will come for him.' 'All right,' said Huck. 'Where shall we meet?' 'Come to my house at eleven o'clock,' Tom replied. 'Make a noise outside my window. Make the noise of a cat. I'll be awake and I'll hear you.' 'All right,' said Huck. V 14 15
5. The graveyard Tom went to bed at half past nine that night. He lay in bed quietly, but he didn't sleep. The house was dark but it wasn't very quiet. Tom heard noises. Aunt Polly was snoring loudly in her bed. A dog was barking in the street outside. Tom waited and waited. At eleven o'clock, Tom heard the noise of a cat outside his window. MI-AOW! MI-AOW! But it wasn't really a cat out there - it was Huckleberry Finn! Tom dressed quickly and quietly. He climbed out of his window and he jumped down to the ground. Huck was waiting in the garden. He was carrying his dead cat. At half past eleven, Tom and Huck were standing in the St Petersburg graveyard. There was a wooden fence around the graveyard. A wooden board stood next to each grave. There was a person's name on each of these boards. Tom and Huck quickly found the grave of Hoss Williams and they found a hiding-place near it. They hid behind three big trees. It was very dark and very quiet in the graveyard. Then suddenly, they heard the noise of an owl, WHO-OOO! WHO- OOO! 'Huck, are you frightened?' Tom asked his friend. 'Yes,' said Huck. 'I don't like ghosts.' Then they heard another noise - a different noise. 'What was that?' Tom said. He grabbed Huck's arm and held it tightly. 'Oh, Tom,' said Huck. 'They're coming! The ghosts are coming!' 'Don't be frightened,' Tom said. 'Don't move. They won't see us behind these trees. Look, Huck, there's a light!' There were three ghosts. Two of them had lamps! 'We must run away, Tom,' Huck said. 'Be quiet!' Tom replied. 'They're not ghosts - they're ordinary men. I can hear Muff Potter's voice. And I can hear another voice. I can hear Injun Joe's voice.' 'Injun Joe!' said Huck. 'Why are those men here, Tom?' The three men walked towards the grave of Hoss Williams. The first man was carrying a lamp. Who was it? Tom didn't know. Behind that man was Injun Joe, with another lamp. He was also carrying two shovels and a rope. The third man was Muff Potter. Muff was pushing a barrow.
'Here it is,' said the first man. 'This is the grave.' He stopped next to Hoss Williams's grave and he held his lamp above his head. Huck and Tom saw the face of a young man. Tom knew who the man was. 'It's Doctor Robinson,' said Tom quietly. 'Dig quickly!' the doctor said to the others. Injun Joe and Muff Potter started digging the earth. They dug away the earth from the grave and they uncovered Hoss's wooden coffin. They lifted the coffin out of the hole. Then they pulled the lid from the coffin. 'They're going to take Hoss's body away, Huck,' Tom said quietly. 'The doctor wants it. He's going to study it. He's going to cut it up!' Injun Joe and Muff Potter lifted the body out of the coffin. They wrapped a big piece of cloth around the body and they put it on their barrow. Then they tied the body to the barrow with their rope. The rope was too long, so Muff took a knife from his pocket. He cut a piece off the rppe. Then he stood behind Joe, still holding his knife. 'Now we'll take the body to your house, Doctor,' said Joe. 'But first, you must give us five dollars.' 'I've already given you some money,' said Doctor Robinson. 'We want more money,' said Joe. 'You haven't given us enough money yet.' 'I don't have any more money,' the doctor replied. 'You're a bad man, Doctor,' Joe said. 'Once, I came to your house and I said I was hungry. You didn't give me any food. You told me to go away.' Suddenly, the doctor said some bad words and he hit Joe's face. 18 19
6. Written in blood! Tom and Huck ran away from the graveyard. They were very frightened. Had Injun Joe seen them? Was he running after them? Tom and Huck saw an old barn. They ran into the bam and they hid behind some straw. 'What will happen now?' Tom asked his friend. 'Injun Joe killed Doctor Robinson,' Huck replied. 'Joe is a murderer. The sheriff will catch Joe and he'll put him in jail. There will be a trial and after that, Joe will be killed -he'll be hanged with a rope.' Tom thought for a minute. 'You and I know about the murder, Huck,' he said. 'But nobody in the town knows. Maybe Joe will tell lies. Maybe the sheriff will put Muff in jail, not Joe. Shall we tell the truth to the sheriff?' 'No, I won't tell him,' said Huck. 'I'm frightened of Injun Joe. Muff Potter must tell the sheriff the truth.' Tom thought for another minute. Then he spoke again. 'Muff doesn't know the truth, Huck,' he said. 'He didn't see the murder.' 'What do you mean, Tom?' asked Huck. 'Doctor Robinson hit Muff with the wooden board from Hoss's grave,' Tom replied. 'Muff was on the ground. He didn't see anything.' 'Tom, we mustn't tell anybody about this,' Huck said. 'We could tell the sheriff - that's true. But Injun Joe might 22 23
murder us. So we won't tell anybody. 'All right, Huck. Let's swear that,' Tom replied. 'Yes, we ll write our promise in blood,' said Huck. Tom found a small flat piece of wood. Then he took a pencil from his pocket and he wrote a sentence on the piece of wood. Tom had a small knife. He cut his finger with it and some blood came from the cut. Then Tom wrote 'TS' on the wood with his blood. Next Huck cut his finger too. He couldn't read or write, because he didn't go to school. But Tom helped him to write 'HF' with his blood. 'Our promise is written in blood,' said Tom. 'We can't tell anybody about the murder. Now let's leave this place. I want to go home now.' The next day was Tuesday. Tom woke late and he dressed quickly. Aunt Polly was eating her breakfast in the kitchen. She saw Tom and she started to cry. 'You're a bad boy, Tom,' she said. 'You went out last night. Why did you do that? I worry about you. But you don't care about me.' f Then Tom started to cry too. He loved his aunt and he didn't want her to be unhappy. 'I won't go out at night again. Aunt Polly,' he said. 'I'm very sorry.' Soon, all the people of St Petersburg were talking about the death of Dr Robinson. Had Muff Potter murdered him? On Tuesday morning, somebody found Muff in a barn. He was ill. Somebody had found Muff's knife next to the doctor's body. There was blood on the knife. Injun Joe talked to the sheriff. 'Muff killed the doctor,' Joe said. 'I tried to stop him.' So the sheriff put Muff in jail. There was going to be a trial - a trial for murder. The days passed. Tom Sawyer was very unhappy. He didn't speak to his friends at school. He didn't speak to Becky Thatcher. He didn't speak to Aunt Polly. He only spoke to one person - Huckleberry Finn. The two boys went to the jail every day. They went early in the mornings. They gave Muff food and fruit. 'You're good boys,' Muff told them one morning. 'Everybody else has forgotten me, but you two boys haven't forgotten me.' 'Muff isn't a bad man,' Huck said as he and Tom left the jail. 'He didn't kill anyone.' 'You're right,' Huck replied. 'But he's going to be hanged - I'm sure of that. It isn't right!' 24 25
7. The trial A few days later. Muff Potter's trial began. Judge Thatcher, Becky's father, was the judge at the trial. Tom and Huck waited outside the town's courtroom all day. They wanted to find out about the trial, because they were worried about Muff. But that day, the boys didn't get any news. They waited outside the courtroom on the second day of the trial too. When people came out of the courtroom, Tom and Huck listened to them talking. 'Judge Thatcher believed Injun Joe's story.' 'Muff Potter is guilty - he killed the doctor.' 'Muff Potter is going to be hanged.' Tom and Huck heard people saying all these things. Tom got home very late that night. Where did he go during the evening? He didn't tell anybody about that. But he was very excited and he couldn't sleep. 'I have no questions for this witness,' said Muff's lawyer. 'I found a knife in the graveyard,' said the next witness. 'The knife was near the doctor's body.' Judge Thatcher held up a knife. 'Is this the knife?' he asked the witness. 'Yes,' the witness replied. 'I have no questions for this witness,' said Muff's lawyer. 'The knife belongs to Muff Potter,' said the third witness. 'I've seen him with it many times.' 'I have no questions,' said Muff's lawyer. On the third day of the trial, Tom and Huck sat inside the courtroom. They listened to the trial. Injun Joe was listening too. He looked at Muff Potter but he didn't say anything to him. Muff was very frightened. Judge Thatcher listened to some witnesses. Muff Potter's lawyer listened too. Each witness walked to the front of the courtroom and told his story. 'I was near the river,' said the first witness. 'I saw Muff Potter there. He was washing his hands in the water. There was blood on his hands. He saw me and he ran away.' 26 27
Lots of people in St Petersburg liked Muff Potter. And many of these people were sitting in the courtroom. They were getting angry. Why didn't Muff's lawyer ask these witnesses some questions. Did he want Muff to die? Then Muff's lawyer stood up and spoke to the judge. 'Judge Thatcher,' the lawyer said, 'at the beginning of this trial, you asked Mr Potter to tell the truth. You asked him to say he was Guilty or Not Guilty of the murder. He told you he was Guilty. But he was wrong.' Suddenly there was a noise in the courtroom. Everyone looked at Injun Joe. He was angry. 'The truth is this - Mr Potter doesn't know about the murder,' the lawyer continued. 'He was dizzy at the time of the murder and he can't remember it. But there is another witness to the murder. His name is Tom Sawyer and he wants to tell you his story now.' Tom walked to the front of the room. Everybody was looking at him. 'Tom Sawyer, where were you at midnight on the seventeenth of July?' the lawyer asked. Tom was very frightened. Injun Joe was looking at him and Joe wasn't happy. 'I was in the graveyard,' Tom said quietly. 'Speak louder please, Tom,' the judge said. 'Don't be frightened.' 'I was in the graveyard,' Tom said loudly. Then Injun Joe smiled. It was a terrible smile! 'Were you near Hoss Williams's grave?' the lawyer asked. 'Yes, sir,' Tom replied. 'Were you hiding?' asked the lawyer. 'Yes, I was hiding behind some trees,' Tom said. 'Was anybody there with you?' Now Tom was silent for a moment. He was worried. 'Yes, sir,' he said at last. 'But I ' 'You don't need to tell us his name now, Tom,' the lawyer said. 'I'll speak to your friend. Did you have anything with you?' 'We had a dead cat, sir,' Tom replied. Almost everybody in the courtroom laughed. But Injun Joe didn't laugh! 'We can show you the body of this cat, sir,' the lawyer told the judge. Then the lawyer spoke to Tom again. 'What did you see in the graveyard, Tom?' he asked. 'Please tell the judge about it.' Tom started to tell his story. Everybody listened to him. Finally, he said, 'the doctor hit Muff Potter with the piece of wood. Then Muff Potter fell on the ground. And Injun Joe killed the doctor with Muff's knife.' Suddenly, Injun Joe jumped up. He ran to a window. Some people tried to stop him, but he broke the glass. CRASH! Then he jumped through the window and he ran away. 28 29
8. Buried Treasure After Muff Potter's trial, everybody in the town was talking about Tom. In the evening, Tom went to Judge Thatcher's house. 'You are a fine young man,' the Judge told him. 'You were frightened, but you told the truth. You were very brave.' Becky smiled at Tom. 'It's my birthday on Saturday,' she said. 'I'm going to have a picnic at McDougal's Caves. All my friends are going to come. Will you come too, Tom?' 'Oh, yes,' he replied. 'Thank you.' He was very happy. The next morning, Tom met Huck near his house. 'I want to do something exciting,' Huck said. 'Let's search for some buried treasure,' Tom replied. 'Buried treasure is very exciting.' 'All right, said Huck. 'But where shall we search?' 'Let's search in the Haunted House,' said Tom. There was an old house near the town. All the boys in St Petersburg called this place the Haunted House. People said there were ghosts there. Nobody else lived there. The house was empty and its windows were broken. There were holes in the roof. The fence was broken and the garden was very untidy. 'That's a good idea,' said Huck. 'We'll go there when you come out of school.' So that afternoon, Tom and Huck took two shovels and they went to the old house. The boys were a little frightened, because they didn't like thinking about ghosts. But the weather was bright and sunny. 'Ghosts don't come out in the daylight,' Tom said. The two boys entered the old house through a broken door. They walked through the empty rooms. 'Let's go upstairs,' Huck said. They left their shovels by the door and they climbed the old, broken stairs. They walked through more empty rooms. Then they went back to the stairs. But suddenly they heard a noise below them. 'Listen!' said Tom. 'There are ghosts downstairs.' 'Let's hide,' said Huck. Very quietly, the boys went into one of the upstairs rooms. There were two big holes in the floor. Tom and Huck lay on the floor and looked down through the holes. Two men entered the room below them. One of the men was a stranger. But the other man was Injun Joe! The two men were arguing. 'I won't do it, Joe!' the stranger said. 'The job is too dangerous!' 'It isn't dangerous,' Joe replied. 'We'll do it soon, then we'll go to Texas.' 'All right. But I want some of the money now,' said the stranger. 'How much money is there in the bag?' 'Six hundred and fifty dollars,' Joe replied. Six hundred and fifty dollars! Huck and Tom looked at each other. That was a lot of money! Maybe it was buried treasure! 30 31
Injun Joe moved a stone in the floor. Below it was a hole and Joe pulled a bag out of this hole. He took some money from the bag and gave it to the stranger. 'I'll bury the bag again,' said Joe. 'I'll put it in a different place, so nobody can find it.' He started to dig in the floor with a big knife. But suddenly there was a noise and Joe stopped digging. His knife had hit something under the floor. Then Joe saw the boys' shovels. 'Give me one of those,' he said to the stranger. Joe used the shovel and he dug in the floor again. After five minutes, he lifted an old box out of the hole. He opened the box and put his hand inside it. When he took his hand out, it was full of gold coins! The two boys were very excited. There really was buried treasure in the Haunted House! 'There are thousands of dollars in that box,' the stranger said to Joe. 'Somebody stole it from a bank and they buried the money here. But we can take it. We don't have to do that other job now.' 'Oh yes, we do have to do it,' Joe replied angrily. 'I want revenge. I need your help, so don't argue with me. Go away now. I'll come soon and I'll find you.' 'What are we going to do with this?' said the stranger pointing at the box. 'I'll take it to the other place,' Joe said. 'It isn't safe here. Those shovels aren't ours. Someone else has been here.' Soon, the two men left the house. 'Joe has taken the buried treasure,' Huck said sadly. 'Where will he bury it now?' 'I don't know,' Tom replied. 'But I don't want to follow those two men. I don't want to meet Injun Joe again. He said he wanted revenge, Huck. I think he wants to kill me!' 32 33
9. The Picnic It was Saturday. It was the day of Becky Thatcher's picnic at McDougal's Caves. Most of the children from the town were going to the picnic. But nobody asked Huckleberry Finn to go. Nobody's parents wanted him to go. Tom was happy. He was only thinking about the picnic. He forgot about Injun Joe. At eleven o'clock, everyone got onto an old steamboat. Everyone carried baskets of food and bottles of drink. Everyone was laughing and singing. They were going to travel down the river on the steamboat for a few miles. Then they were going to walk to the caves. There were no adults on the boat that day. The older children were taking care of the younger ones. The steamboat took the children to a beach, three miles south of the town. There, they opened the baskets of food and they ate their lunch. After that, they rested quietly for a while. Then somebody asked a question - 'Who wants to go to the caves now?' 'Me!' 'Me!' 'Me!' 'Me!' 'Me too!' 'And me!' Everybody wanted to go into the caves. Everyone got candles and matches from their baskets. Then they ran up the little hill behind the beach. The entrance to McDougal's Caves was in the side of this little hill. A long time before, somebody put a big, strong wooden door in this entrance. One of the older boys opened this door carefully and everyone went inside. They all looked back for a moment at the green trees and the sunshine behind them. Then they looked at the darkness in front of them. The caves were a cold, dark, frightening place! Somebody lit a candle. There was light in the caves! But someone else blew on the flame, and then there was darkness again. A game started. People lit candles and other people blew them out. Everyone laughed and shouted and ran round in circles. 34 35
Soon the children stopped playing this game and they walked further into the caves. They were all carrying bright candles now and they walked in a long line. They walked in a line because the main path was narrow. But there were other paths to the left and to the right. Some of these were narrower than the main path! There were many paths in McDougal's caves. Some of them led away from the main path and then led back to it. Some led to a wall of rock and finished there. Some paths led out of one large cave and into another. A few paths went further and further into the hill. Many of the children had been here before. But nobody knew all the paths in these caves. 'Listen to me!' one of the older boys shouted. 'I'm going to make a speech! The steamboat's bell will ring at seven o'clock. We have to start our journey back to the town at that time. So everyone must come to the entrance by seven o'clock. Do you all understand?' All the children called out, 'Yes!' After this speech, the children didn't stay together. Some went one way and some went another way. Tom and Becky took some food and some candles. They went together down one of the very narrow paths. This path led further into the hill. 'Look, Becky,' Tom said. 'You can write your name on the wall. Use the smoke from your candle.' They moved their candles from side to side, near the wall. Then they wrote their names in the black soot from the candle smoke. After this, they walked on further. After a few minutes, they came to a little waterfall. Water was falling from a little hole in the wall of rock. It was running away down a larger hole in the path. 'It's beautiful, Tom,' said Becky. 'There's a path behind the waterfall,' Tom said. 'It leads downwards. Let's walk along that path. Make a mark on the wall with your candle smoke. We'll come back to the same place later and we'll see the mark.' So Becky made a mark on the wall. Then the two young people went behind the waterfall and down the path. After a while they came to a very large cave. They walked round this big cave and they walked along another path. And soon they came to another large cave and another waterfall. Here the water fell into a small lake. All the rocks here were white. 36
'What a beautiful white lake, Tom!' said Becky. Then Tom heard a noise and he looked up at the roof of the cave. Bats! There were hundreds of small black bats flying above them. The bats had seen the light from their candles. The bats were squeaking. They were flapping their wings. Tom and Becky ran! The bats flew after them! Becky screamed and dropped her candle. Tom and Becky ran and ran. At last they escaped from the bats. They stopped next to a big, dark lake. They rested for a few minutes. It was very quiet. 'I can't hear any voices,' Becky said. 'Where are the other children?' 'I can't hear them,' Tom said. 'We must go back to the entrance to the caves now, Tom,' Becky said. Tom was silent for a few moments. Then he spoke. 'Becky, we're lost!' he said. 10. Lost! 'Come on, Becky,' Tom said. 'We must find the path to the entrance. We'll soon be there. We'll soon find the other children. Please don't worry.' The two young people started to walk again. Tom held his candle high in the air. He walked in front of Becky. 'We'll soon find the white lake again,' he said. An hour passed, but they didn't find the lake again. And they didn't find the bats again. 'Tom, we're really lost,' Becky said sadly. 'We'll die in these caves.' She started to cry. 'Help!' Tom shouted. 'Please help us! Can anyone hear me?' 'Can anyone hear me? Can anyone hear me?' This new voice came from the rocks, but it was really Tom's voice. It was only an echo. Tom and Becky walked and walked. Becky was still crying, but Tom put his arm round her shoulders. After that, she felt a little better. 'We'll get out,' Tom said. 'We won't die here.' Many hours passed. Sometimes the children sat together and talked. Sometimes they slept for a while. Sometimes they walked on, along narrow paths and through big caves. But they didn't find the entrance. 'How long is it since we came into the caves, Tom?' asked Becky. 'What day is it now?' At last they came to a small stream. 38 39
'We have to stop here,' Tom said. He sat down. 'Why do we have to stop?' asked Becky. 'This is our last candle,' Tom replied. 'It's very small now. The flame will die soon.' Becky sat down next to Tom. 'Will my father search for us?' she asked. 'Will he find us?' Yes, Becky, he'll find us,' Tom said. Soon, both of them heard the noise again. They started to shout. They shouted and shouted. 'Help! Help! Please help us!' But now the noise was further away. 'Stay here, Becky,' said Tom. 'I won't go far.' Tom ran towards the noise. In the darkness, he found a path. After a minute, he turned a corner and he saw a light. It came from the other side of a big rock, a few feet in front of him. Then he saw a hand, holding up a candle, above the rock. 'Help!' Tom shouted. Behind the rock, a man stood up suddenly. It was Injun Joe! Tom was very frightened. But his shout frightened Joe, and the murderer ran away. They sat quietly together. They didn't speak. They looked at the small piece of candle. Soon, its flame died. They no longer had any light. Suddenly Tom spoke. 'Listen, Becky,' he said. 'Listen! There's a noise. Someone is coming.' 40 41
Quickly and quietly, Tom returned to Becky. He called to her. She answered and he walked towards her voice. He didn't want to frighten her, so he didn't tell her about Injun Joe. 'There wasn't anybody there,' he said. 'I shouted, but nobody came.' 'Oh, Tom,' said Becky quietly. They sat by the stream for hours, and at last they fell asleep. When Tom woke, he was very hungry and very thirsty. Soon, Becky was awake too. 'We must try to walk again,' Tom said. 'We must try to find the entrance - or another entrance. I don't want to die here, and I don't want you to die here.' They walked slowly and sadly. But after an hour, Tom suddenly saw another light. 'Look, Becky, look!' he said. Suddenly he was excited. In front of them, they saw a small, round light. It was white light and it was coming through a hole in the rock. 'It's daylight, Tom, Becky shouted. 'It's the sun!' 11. Injun Joe's revenge Most of the children in St Petersburg went to the caves that Saturday, so the town was very quiet. Huck sat by the river and he waited. In the evening he saw the steamboat returning. Lots of tired children climbed off the boat. But Huck didn't see Tom. Where was he? At eleven o'clock, Huck got up. He walked slowly out of the town. He was going to one of the nearby farms. He was going to sleep in a barn there. Suddenly, Huck saw someone walking in front of him. It was Injun Joe! Huck followed him quietly. 'Joe is carrying something,' Huck thought. 'He's going to bury the treasure somewhere.' After ten minutes, Huck saw someone else. It was the stranger from the Haunted House. He met Joe outside a house and they stopped and talked. 'This is Mrs Douglas's house,' Huck thought. 'Are they going to bury the treasure on her land? He listened very carefully. 'There's a light in the house,' Injun Joe said. 'We'll wait here for a while. She'll go to bed soon. Then we'll do it!' 'No, Joe!' said the stranger. 'It's a bad idea. Let's go away. Let's go to Texas.' 'We'll wait here!' Joe said again. His voice was angry. Huck was frightened and worried. Was this Joe's revenge? Was he going to murder Mrs Douglas? 42 43
'That woman's husband was a judge,' Joe told the other man. 'And that judge put me in jail. I was going to get my revenge on him, but he died. Now I'll get my revenge on his wife! I won't kill her - I don't kill women. But I'll cut her face and her ears. And you're going to help!' Huck ran to Judge Thatcher's house and he knocked on the door. The judge opened the door. 'Huck Finn,' he said. 'Are you looking for Tom? He isn't here. Becky hasn't come home yet. Maybe she's staying with a friend tonight.' 'I'm not looking for Tom,' Huck replied. Then he told the judge his story. 'Injun Joe!' the judge said. 'I'll tell the sheriff about this. And I'll take some men to Mrs Douglas's house now.' A few minutes later. Judge Thatcher and some other men were running towards Mrs Douglas's house. They were all holding guns. Huck was very tired, so he didn't follow them. The judge and the other men didn't catch Injun Joe and the stranger. But they frightened them and they ran away. Mrs Douglas was safe. But the next morning, Judge Thatcher had something else to tell the sheriff. His daughter Becky and Tom Sawyer were lost. They were lost for ever in McDougal's Caves! All that day and the next night, Huck slept at the judge's house. He was ill and unhappy. But on Monday, Mrs Douglas came and she took him to her house. 'I'll take care of the boy now,' she told the judge. Huck moved away very quietly. Then he turned and ran back towards the town. He liked Mrs Douglas - she was a good lady. Sometimes she gave him food and clothes. Now she was in danger. He had to get help. Who could help him? 44 45
12. The reward Tom and Becky were not lost for ever in the caves. On Wednesday afternoon, they were at home again! On Friday evening, Tom was telling his story. Aunt Polly, Becky's parents and lots of their friends were listening. 'At last, we saw daylight coming through a hole,' Tom said. 'We got out through the hole. Bigger people couldn't have got through it. When we got out, we were near the river. We were about two miles from the entrance to the caves. Some men came up the river in a boat. We shouted to them. We were lucky! They saw us and they brought us back to town. Then we both slept for two days!' Two weeks later, Tom was talking to Judge Thatcher. 'Nobody will ever get lost in those caves again, Tom,' said the judge. 'When you were lost, I fixed a big metal bar across the door. I thought you and Becky were dead. I didn't want any other children to die in there. That door will never open again.' 'Oh!' said Tom. Suddenly his face was white. 'Tom, what's wrong?' the judge asked. 'Oh, Judge Thatcher, Injun Joe is in the caves,' Tom said. 'I saw him there. I think it was on our second day in the caves.' 'I understand now,' said the judge. 'He went there when we frightened him outside Mrs Douglas's house. Maybe he took the box of gold there.' Judge Thatcher took the sheriff and some other men to the caves. They took the metal bar away from the door and they opened it. Inside the door, they found Injun Joe. He was lying dead on the ground. Near him they found the box of gold. 'We must give this money to Tom and Huck,' said the sheriff. 'They are very brave boys. We must give them a reward.' After that. Judge Thatcher took care of the boys' money, so nobody could steal it. Tom visited Becky often. They often talked about their adventure in McDougal's Caves. Huck lived for a while with Mrs Douglas. But he didn't want to stay in St Petersburg for ever. One day, he got into a small boat and he went south. He travelled down the Mississippi River. But that is another story! 46 47