The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain (the false prince .txt) š
- Author: Mark Twain
Book online Ā«The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn - Mark Twain (the false prince .txt) šĀ». Author Mark Twain
āBut looky here, Tom, what do we want to warn anybody for that somethingās up? Let them find it out for themselvesā āitās their lookout.ā
āYes, I know; but you canāt depend on them. Itās the way theyāve acted from the very startā āleft us to do everything. Theyāre so confiding and mullet-headed they donāt take notice of nothing at all. So if we donāt give them notice there wonāt be nobody nor nothing to interfere with us, and so after all our hard work and trouble this escapeāll go off perfectly flat; wonāt amount to nothingā āwonāt be nothing to it.ā
āWell, as for me, Tom, thatās the way Iād like.ā
āShucks!ā he says, and looked disgusted. So I says:
āBut I aināt going to make no complaint. Any way that suits you suits me. What you going to do about the servant-girl?ā
āYouāll be her. You slide in, in the middle of the night, and hook that yaller girlās frock.ā
āWhy, Tom, thatāll make trouble next morning; because, of course, she probābly haināt got any but that one.ā
āI know; but you donāt want it but fifteen minutes, to carry the nonnamous letter and shove it under the front door.ā
āAll right, then, Iāll do it; but I could carry it just as handy in my own togs.ā
āYou wouldnāt look like a servant-girl then, would you?ā
āNo, but there wonāt be nobody to see what I look like, anyway.ā
āThat aināt got nothing to do with it. The thing for us to do is just to do our duty, and not worry about whether anybody sees us do it or not. Haināt you got no principle at all?ā
āAll right, I aināt saying nothing; Iām the servant-girl. Whoās Jimās mother?ā
āIām his mother. Iāll hook a gown from Aunt Sally.ā
āWell, then, youāll have to stay in the cabin when me and Jim leaves.ā
āNot much. Iāll stuff Jimās clothes full of straw and lay it on his bed to represent his mother in disguise, and Jimāll take the nigger womanās gown off of me and wear it, and weāll all evade together. When a prisoner of style escapes itās called an evasion. Itās always called so when a king escapes, fārinstance. And the same with a kingās son; it donāt make no difference whether heās a natural one or an unnatural one.ā
So Tom he wrote the nonnamous letter, and I smouched the yaller wenchās frock that night, and put it on, and shoved it under the front door, the way Tom told me to. It said:
Beware. Trouble is brewing. Keep a sharp lookout.
Unknown Friend.
Next night we stuck a picture, which Tom drawed in blood, of a skull and crossbones on the front door; and next night another one of a coffin on the back door. I never see a family in such a sweat. They couldnāt a been worse scared if the place had a been full of ghosts laying for them behind everything and under the beds and shivering through the air. If a door banged, Aunt Sally she jumped and said āouch!ā if anything fell, she jumped and said āouch!ā if you happened to touch her, when she warnāt noticing, she done the same; she couldnāt face noway and be satisfied, because she allowed there was something behind her every timeā āso she was always a-whirling around sudden, and saying āouch,ā and before sheād got two-thirds around sheād whirl back again, and say it again; and she was afraid to go to bed, but she dasnāt set up. So the thing was working very well, Tom said; he said he never see a thing work more satisfactory. He said it showed it was done right.
So he said, now for the grand bulge! So the very next morning at the streak of dawn we got another letter ready, and was wondering what we better do with it, because we heard them say at supper they was going to have a nigger on watch at both doors all night. Tom he went down the lightning-rod to spy around; and the nigger at the back door was asleep, and he stuck it in the back of his neck and come back. This letter said:
Donāt betray me, I wish to be your friend. There is a desprate gang of cutthroats from over in the Indian Territory going to steal your runaway nigger tonight, and they have been trying to scare you so as you will stay in the house and not bother them. I am one of the gang, but have got religgion and wish to quit it and lead an honest life again, and will betray the helish design. They will sneak down from northards, along the fence, at midnight exact, with a false key, and go in the niggerās cabin to get him. I am to be off a piece and blow a tin horn if I see any danger; but stead of that I will baa like a sheep soon as they get in and not blow at all; then whilst they are getting his chains loose, you slip there and lock them in, and can kill them at your leasure. Donāt do anything but just the way I am telling you, if you do they will suspicion something and raise whoop-jamboreehoo. I do not wish any reward but to know I have done the right thing.
Unknown Friend.
XLWe was feeling pretty good after breakfast, and took my canoe and went over the river a-fishing, with a lunch, and had a good time, and took a look at the raft and found her all right, and got home late to supper, and found them in such a sweat and worry they didnāt know which end they was standing on, and made us go right off to bed the minute we was done supper, and wouldnāt tell us what the trouble was, and never let on a word about the new letter, but didnāt need to, because we knowed as much
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